[Cialug] Anonymous Surfing Linux Distro

[kristau]

On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 9:32 PM, Kenneth Younger <kyounger at gmail.com> wrote:
> Are there any distros specifically aimed at already being set up for
> browsing anonymously, using Tor, etc.?

As far as I know, there isn't a distro specifically designed around
anonymity, but many contain the tools you would need.

> I understand that there are ways of being detected if you send the
> identifiable info and/or forget to use encryption, but what other techniques
> can you use to shield yourself?

Depends on the level of paranoia/protection you seek. You can go as
simple as using an anonymizing proxy or as complex as using several
layers of co-opted bandwidth from a one-time-use system.

> My goal here is to set one up as a virtual image that I can snapshot, do
> what I need to do anonymously, and then revert the snapshot. Anyone see
> problems with that?

Josh touched on using a live distro. It is trivial to set up a
boot-to-iso VM in any of the popular desktop virtualization engines
(VMware Workstation, Parallels, VirtualBox). Why not just use a live
ISO for this? No need to take, keep or roll back snapshots because the
entire environment will get wiped upon power off. Need to update the
plugins and software? Choose a live ISO that updates frequently.
Worried about residual disk presence? Either keep the entire VM and
ISO on an encrypted volume (truecrypt, cryptfs, Loop-AES), or just
shred/wipe the VM files when done.

Again, it all comes down to the level of paranoia required. Ask
yourself the question, "What will be the consequences if I can be
positively identified based on the activities I've performed from this
system?" Embarrassment? Financial or personal loss? Prison time?

Also note that Tor traffic, by now, is most certainly a red flag that
something's up. You are probably better off using "borrowed bandwidth"
(Panera, Brueggers, the vast linksys network) than Tor.

-- 
Tired programmer
Coding late into the night
The core dump follows