DHCP

Upribox normally automatically configures Internet access via the stationary DSL router using the Apate daemon. If this causes problems, you need to adjust the privacy box manually; this usually also involves configuration work on the router.

Any router with access to the DSL or VDSL network usually has a DHCP server that automatically assigns IP addresses to all wired computers, as well as to systems integrated over WiFi. Upribox now also has its own DHCP server, but it is only used as a fallback solution if you configure the system manually.

You need to assign a fixed IP address to upribox and turn off the DHCP server on the DSL router, ensuring that the DHCP server now activated on upribox exclusively assigns IP addresses and that the data packets then flow from the computers on the LAN via the upribox and the DSL router.

Three Modes

Upribox allows you to define an individual operating mode for each connected device on the WiFi network. Three modes are predefined:

1. No Mode allows unrestricted data transfer. In this mode, upribox neither filters out annoying advertisements on the Internet nor blocks trackers or other technologies used for spying; therefore, you receive no security benefits.

2. Silent Mode (default) blocks, for all connected clients, advertisements and various technologies used to spy on the user. In this mode, Internet usage can hardly be traced.

3. Ninja Mode, the safest mode, not only suppresses advertising and tracking networks, but also routes all data packets through the Tor network for additional anonymization. Although Ninja mode guarantees better privacy protection, it also slows down web access speed slightly because all data packets need to seep through the Onion layers of the Tor network.

The operating modes are displayed on the upribox dashboard; it provides all three modes for each detected device. For this purpose, the interface on the Device Overview screen lists all detected devices in a tabular overview, with their operating modes indicated to the right. Clicking on the radio buttons below the pictograms switches the operating mode for the respective device.

Upribox allows the simultaneous use of different modes and are permanently updated with the server, which means the system also notices when clients log off. Switching between modes takes some time: Because Ninja mode establishes a connection to the Tor network, it takes a few seconds to gain access when this mode is activated.

If you loaded the developer's software on an existing Rasp Pi and are not using the upribox bundle, please note that switching operating modes on individual devices over the Internet only works without problems on an RPi3B+. Only the current top model in the Raspberry Pi range has a corresponding type CYW43455 WiFi chip (formerly Broadcom BCM43455) with dual-band and multiple SSID capacity so that modes can be changed during operation. Older models would require an external USB wireless dongle. However, Raspbian only supports a few chipsets capable of multiple SSIDs. Please refer to the project documentation for more information [5].

Statistics

One of the new features in the second version of the upribox software is the ability to collect and list a variety of statistical data generated when surfing the Internet. After clicking on one of the active client computers on the Device Overview screen, you will find statistics that quantify the data volume transferred in the current calendar week and visualize it as a bar graph.

Additionally, you can see here which services and protocols were most frequently used in the reporting period and which DNS queries were made. Click on the Statistics category on the left side of the dashboard to see information about the domains blocked in the same period for the entire LAN. The overview also lists filtered content, showing the 10 most frequently contacted domains for each group (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Statistics provide information about queries and data volumes.

The statistics not only help you monitor traffic from computers, but also from Internet of Things (IoT) devices on your network. Because these devices also appear in the list of active systems, the connection data can be used to determine with whom the IoT devices communicate and the amount of data generated.