Completely Anonymous In Internet?

[Jamo]

Hi

I was wondering how to access internet totally anonymously?

So I thought:

- use livelinux - no coocies etc.

- use public/unprotected wlan

- Change mac address

- Dont login to mail etc. which would indicate who is using that connection.

I guess that there is no need for proxies.

Is that all it takes to be anonymous/untraceable in internet.

Im not asking how to commit a crime in internet and not get caught...

[Infiltrator]

If you want to remain anonymous on the internet proxy servers is what you need. It hides your main identify, which is your IP address. But you need to be cautious when using proxy servers, they may not always be who they say they are. Since your traffic is going through them, they can potentially see all your traffic.

So I'd say your best bet would be to buy a proxy/vpn server or use TOR networks which is free but secure.

Also remember that when using hostile networks, like hotspots in Airports try to use SSH or VPN to secure your connection, as there could be malicious users monitoring your traffic.

Edit: Another way to remain anonymous on the internet, is not to give away too much information about yourself, try to keep a low profile this will also help you a lot.

Edited March 4, 2011 by Infiltrator

[Jamo]

Well yes, but AFAIK ISPs have to store data for some time for connection etc, so I could be traced back to me.

Im hosting https proxy at home to get through all firewalls and be bit more secure. I have aswell pptp proxy running on DD-WRT router, and a couple of ssh fro different ports, 22,53,80.

I was asking how to be anonymous and untraceable, not just anonymous.

[digip]

Well, for starters you can never be truly untraceable, just harder to define who did what on which network. All connections tell the next hop who sent the data, just that if you were to use someone else's network, you end up looking like them. Even using TOR, you are relying on the exit nodes to play on their honor and not sniff/interfere with/decrypt your traffic, but TOR is still a decent tool to use in combination with routing through someone else's network other than your own. While Proxies do work to some extent, you would have to again trust the Proxy in use to 1, make your real IP hidden from the end node(s), and 2, not sniff your traffic in the process, which a lot of them will do since they look to harvest email addresses, logins and passwords. SSH tunnels are another option, but the servers you tunnel through still would have to contact any of the other destinations for you, and in that respect, would do so in the clear and leave the IP of the Tunnel's server exposed, leaving a trail back to you in the process if anyone tried tracing it back. Multiple tunnels and proxy chains would help so long as they didn't get access to every part of the chain all the way back to you.

Now, if this was to share something from one node to another without anyone being able to sniff and read the traffic, end to end Tunnels would be the way to go, either via SSH or VPN, and you could combine this with use of separate networks than your homes in addition to using multiple tunnels or your own proxies you control from various way points/sites and chain them all together.

The internet and networking in general was designed for communication, and in doing so, nodes must be able to exchange identities in order to speak to one another/send and receive data, so at some point in the connection at the lower level of basic networking, your real IP and MAC address will be known to the closest hop, or it wouldn't be able to deliver the information directly to you without a proper way to identify you. Otherwise, you would be doing something like forging packets to make one server send data to someone other than you, which means you never see the reply anyway. This in turn could cause a DoS if done repeatedly if data sent to another node other than you wasn't expecting it, and it had to continually try to drop the packets not destined for it. In the end, there is no true anonymity, only forgery of who you are masked by the networks, tunnels, fake user agents, and proxy tools (ie:TOR) you use to send your traffic through, which makes it more difficult for someone to be able to identify you if they don't have access to every hop that traveled back to you. Using someone else's networks would be the way to go, but also could be illegal if you didn't do so with permission, and as such, you would be divulging your identity in asking to use their network in the process.

Depending on what your intentions are and what you were trying to access, being stealthy and under the radar would be advised. Don't do anything illegal or abusive on the network, and chances are, you won't be bothered.

[Infiltrator]

You can be anonymous but as Digip pointed out, being completely untraceable, I don't think that's gonna be possible. Sooner or later someone will trace back to you and then its game over.

[digip]

IronGeek has done some work on Darknets and Anonynets and has found out that even through alternate, underground networking protocols, he was able to find out real IP addresses of end users, so at some point, the ball must drop into the basics of networking somewhere in the chain. I don't want to say "it follows the OSI model", but in reality, the structure of networking gets down to the physical core components and runs through hardware that must be identifiable at end points in order to exchange data. Even with pptp being encrypted end to end, I would think the end nodes are still identifiable.

[Jason Cooper]

As already stated you can never be sure that you are completely untraceable. Generally there is a traceability v performance pay off. The more measures you take to be untraceable (tor, proxies, VPNs) the lower the performance you will get.

Using someone else's internet connection decreases the chances of you being traced by the people at the end of the chain, but increases you chance of being tracked by the person who's internet connection you are using, "Why is there a guy in car sat outside my house? Lets call the police and get them to investigate."

[Infiltrator]

In the end no matter how cautious you are, or what measures you take to cover up your tracks, The Big Brother will always be watching what you do. Your ISP will be the first point of contact, if someone wants to press charges against you.

[Jamo]

Im not going to do anything illegal etc. but I just taked with my friend, if someone can not be traced from internet.

But if I use open wlan, not near where living. Using live linux with faked mac. In that case I could be traced back to that wlan AP Im connected, but not further. (Unless, your showing suspicious in CCTV.)Anyway I could use that AP a couple of block away, with usb wlan adapter, like Alfa AWUS036H. Could someone still be able to trace it to me.

[Mr-Protocol]

Use a public open VPN that doesn't log connections, Tor on top of that, and that is about as close as you can get lol.