The Sysadmin’s Daily Grind: Tor
SECRET SURFING
Some people don’t mind leaving traces of their IP address wherever they go, others prefer to use a tool like The Onion Router.
The Onion Router (Tor) [1] runs as a Socks 4 proxy and mangles incoming connections through a network of distributed, independent servers, thus removing any traces of the original data packets. The Onion is similar to Java Anonymous Proxy (JAP), a tool that supports anonymous web surfing. Your ex won’t be able to evaluate the IP address of a blog entry to find out who added those unflattering comments about her. The IP address will be that of the last server in the Onion routing chain. I downloaded Tor from [2], which has a collection of ready-made packages for a variety of Linux distributions, BSD derivates, MacOS, and Windows. I decided to build from scratch using the current tarballs, a quick process. I had to install the OpenSSL and Libevent libraries on my machine, but then it was standard procedure: ./configure && make && make install. As I did not specify any preferences for the target directory, the binaries ended up in /usr/local/bin, and a sample configuration file was placed in /usr/local/etc/tor/.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
News
-
Mageia 8 is Now Available with Linux 5.10 LTS
The latest release of Mageia includes improved graphics support for both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs.
-
GNOME 40 Beta has been Released
Anyone looking to test the beta for the upcoming GNOME 40 release can now do so.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 has Arrived
The latest stable version of OpenMandriva has been released and offers the newest KDE desktop and ARM support.
-
Thunderbird 78 is being ported to Ubuntu 20.04
The Ubuntu developers have made the decision to port the latest release of Thunderbird to the LTS version of the platform.
-
Elementary OS is Bringing Multi-Touch Gestures to the OS
User-friendly Linux distribution, elementary OS, is working to make using the fan-favorite platform even better for laptops.
-
Decade-Old Sudo Flaw Discovered
A vulnerability has been discovered in the Linux sudo command that’s been hiding in plain sight.
-
Another New Linux Laptop has Arrived
Slimbook has released a monster of a Linux gaming laptop.
-
Mozilla VPN Now Available for Linux
The promised subscription-based VPN service from Mozilla is now available for the Linux platform.
-
Wayland and New App Menu Coming to KDE
The 2021 roadmap for the KDE desktop environment includes some exciting features and improvements.
-
Deepin 20.1 has Arrived
Debian-based Deepin 20.1 has been released with some interesting new features.