In September 2024, the Germany’s federal legal police (BKA) and the general public prosecutor’s workplace in Frankfurt, Germany have been capable of report a hit: The suspected operators of the darknet platform Boystown, previously one of many largest web sites for baby pornography with round 400,000 members, have been recognized and arrested after years of analysis.
The particular factor about that is that the suspects have been recognized by way of the TOR community, which to this present day stands for safety and anonymity on the web.
Has TOR now been cracked?
If criminals will be stopped, that is after all excellent news. But the TOR community just isn’t solely utilized by criminals.
Many press representatives and opposition members in totalitarian states additionally use TOR to achieve entry to data, disseminate information, or talk with one another with out being recognized by the state authorities.
See additionally: What is the Darknet? How the web’s secretive, hidden underbelly works
Major worldwide media retailers such because the BBC, the New York Times, and the NDR keep mailboxes within the TOR community, by way of which they are often reached anonymously by informants. And the darknet just isn’t all evil both. Deutsche Welle, for instance, operates a web site there to offer the inhabitants of some closely monitored international locations free entry to data.
Are all these companies not safe? And what different choices are there for remaining nameless on the web?
Internet connection by way of a proxy server
The little brother of the TOR community is the proxy server. The phrase proxy means a consultant, and that is how you may really describe the operate of a proxy server: It surfs the web on behalf of the person.
In technical phrases, which means that you join your PC to a proxy server, which forwards your web site calls, entries, and instructions to the web and returns the responses to you. Only the IP handle of the server is seen to the skin world; your individual handle stays hidden.
Websites corresponding to Raid.Rush keep continuously up to date lists of free proxy servers. There are a whole bunch of those servers in international locations all around the world, so the person can faux any location.
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You can discover dozens of lists of free proxy servers on the web, a lot of which additionally present information on present utilization and accessibility. Examples embrace Raidrush and Hidemyname.
Instead of configuring the proxy server within the Windows settings (Windows icon > Settings > Network and Internet > Manual proxy setup > Setup), you may also use proxy web sites corresponding to Proxysite.com, Croxyproxy, or the free online web proxy from Steganos.
The drawback of free proxies is that the info switch charges are sometimes relatively low. In addition, these companies usually don’t provide any actual anonymity, however as a substitute identify the nation wherein the person is predicated, for instance, or promote the collected person information to promoting networks.
You must also bear in mind that many proxy servers write the info of the connections that run by way of them in log information, which they cross on to authorities companies on request.
You can get extra anonymity and better speeds with paid proxy companies. You can find a list here, for example.
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VPN: Good and low-cost companies
If you might have determined to pay for an anonymizing web connection, it’s best to take into account a VPN service because the means. VPN stands for digital personal community.
Like proxy webites, these companies additionally redirect your information site visitors by way of a server on the web, however go one step additional in the case of anonymization.
In distinction to a proxy service, the connection between your PC and the VPN server is securely encrypted, whereas the proxy server forwards the info unencrypted.
Further studying: The best VPN services
In addition, a proxy service works at software degree, i.e. it solely conceals your IP handle when utilizing the browser, for instance, however not when working with an FTP consumer or a mail program. A VPN service, then again, works at working system degree and protects all information site visitors by way of the web.
There is an entire vary of free VPN services. However, with these suppliers you at all times need to dwell with restrictions, both the month-to-month information quantity is proscribed, or the variety of VPN servers is barely within the single-digit vary, or the pace is proscribed.
There can be a danger that these companies will transmit person information to the promoting trade or authorities companies.
Paid VPN companies corresponding to NordVPN, Mullvad VPN, or ExpressVPN provide excessive speeds and hundreds of servers world wide at costs of round $3 to $5 per thirty days.
The companies promote a no-log coverage, i.e. they promise to not retailer any person information. This has additionally been confirmed prior to now by impartial establishments for the three companies talked about.
Blurring fingerprints
As IP addresses can change every so often and computer systems from networks entry the web below a shared IP handle, the promoting trade has been relying much less and fewer on IP addresses to determine web site guests for years, and as a substitute more and more on fingerprinting strategies.
Firefox and another browsers include defences in opposition to fingerprinting and supply incorrect or nonsensical information in response to such requests.
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Fingerprinting doesn’t (solely) document the IP handle of a web site customer, but in addition the configuration of their pc. Which browser is she utilizing, which model, with which extensions, which display screen decision is ready, which graphics card is put in, which driver model, which working system …?
The browser willingly offers all this and far more information to the net server after a Javascript request. You could make fingerprinting unattainable by deactivating Javascript, however this additionally signifies that many web sites can not be used.
Firefox, Brave, and Avast browsers include features that both ship incorrect information in response to Javascript requests or usually block corporations which are recognized to make use of fingerprinting.
Classic monitoring with cookies, and so forth.
When you browse the net with a browser, the web sites you go to place cookies in your pc. These are small textual content information which, on the one hand, are a prerequisite for on-line retailers to operate in any respect.
On the opposite hand, so-called third-party cookies are utilized by specialised monitoring corporations to trace guests to a web site as they transfer across the web.
These corporations generate a profile from the info collected on this method, which they promote to advertisers who use it to show adverts tailor-made to you on the web sites you go to.
You can swap off the acceptance of third-party cookies in any browser. In Edge and Firefox, additionally it is doable to robotically delete all cookies whenever you shut the browser, and there’s a corresponding extension for Chrome known as Click & Clean.
You may also discover a do-not-track swap in each browser, which prevents the web sites you go to from monitoring you as you browse the web. However, that is nothing greater than a request. Switch the operate on anyway.
In Chrome, as in different browsers, there’s a do-not-track swap that you should utilize to ask web sites to not observe your actions on the web.
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Why TOR remains to be the most effective resolution
The TOR community protects its customers by redirecting connections by way of three randomly chosen servers (the so-called nodes) and encrypting them not less than thrice.
The second node solely is aware of the placement of the primary server, however not the person. The third solely is aware of the second server, however neither the incoming server nor the person.
After 10 minutes on the newest, the TOR browser — a custom-made model of Firefox — swaps the second and third servers for different areas. Connections by way of TOR are subsequently extremely safe and nameless.
The TOR browser is a barely modified model of Firefox that gives preconfigured entry to the TOR community. The TOR community, in flip, is a prerequisite for entry to the Darknet.
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In the case of the darknet platform Boystown, the investigators had in all probability exchanged messages with the suspect by way of a messenger. This meant they knew precisely when which information packet was despatched and solely needed to wait till one in every of them was forwarded by way of the nodes they have been monitoring.
The BKA officers presumably configured numerous high-performance and well-connected servers as TOR nodes for this function. As the TOR community seems to be for quick servers with low latency when switching nodes, it was solely a matter of time earlier than a chat with the suspect was registered there.
However, correspondingly intensive investigations can solely happen in particular person circumstances. For the overwhelming majority of customers, presently round 2 million every single day, TOR remains to be the most secure solution to stay unrecognized on the web.
Anonymizing search queries
Both Google and Bing save their customers’ search queries. Google and Microsoft use this information to create person profiles and promote them to the promoting trade. If you might have a Google account, you possibly can see what queries and different actions you might have saved there after logging in online.
You may deactivate this monitoring on the identical place. Bing offers this data straight by way of the browser: Open the menu with the three dashes on the high proper and go to “Search history.” There you possibly can delete the search historical past, deactivating it’s not doable.
To stay nameless throughout your net searches, it’s essential to swap to different search engines like google. Although the Dutch search engine Startpage makes use of Google’s search outcomes, it doesn’t document your search historical past, doesn’t save IP addresses, and doesn’t show customized promoting.
The U.S. service Duck Duck Go obtains its outcomes from over 400 sources, together with Bing, Wikipedia, and Yahoo. Like Startpage, it doesn’t retailer IP addresses or details about customers. However, as a result of U.S. Patriot Act, Duck Duck Go should grant the U.S. authorities entry to its servers on request.
Anonymous with the smartphone
Almost all smartphones work with both Android from Google or Apple’s iOS. In each circumstances, massive quantities of person information circulate to Google and Apple, but in addition to the app producers and promoting corporations.
There are two methods to modify off this information circulate: by optimizing the privateness settings and putting in particular information safety apps or — within the case of Android units — by putting in various working programs, so-called customized ROMs.
Lineage OS is an alternate working system for Android smartphones. The producer guarantees the next degree of information safety than the Google system.
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The two best-known customized ROMs are Lineage-OS and /e/OS.
Please notice: These working programs will not be appropriate for each Android smartphone. First test the compatibility lists to see in case your mannequin is listed. Please additionally notice that though the customized ROMs are based mostly on Android, not each app will run on them.
These programs are nicely fitted to older smartphones which are not wanted, which you’ll be able to convert into secondary units with a excessive degree of information safety.
This article initially appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.