Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: Jack Shit on August 14, 2013, 04:39 am
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I see a lot of posts hear with links that are labeled in bold or capital letters CLEARNET. So what the deal with that? Is it a bad idea to log into Facebook and Twitter with Tor while I'm still logged into SR? Would it be bad to check clearnet links with another browser like chrome while I'm on SR with Tor?
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Trollin?
U must be trollin...
I don't know. Honestly, I am still in the beginners phase of learning all this stuff, but if I were you, I'd steer clear of any account that can be linked to my identity when I was logged in to the road.
I honestly can't even fathom why anyone would want to open those sites simultaneously.
You should probably go ahead and learn all about Tails if you don't know already. And if you do know, please use it for your own safety!
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Yeah, I am looking into tails and the Encrypted and Torified Linux Virtual Machine on a Windows USB Stick thread. I am still uncertain which would be better. For now I would like to know whats the problem with accessing clearnet sites on Tor.
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Another question, hopefully the experts arrive soon:
Is it safe to access the darknet (with torbrowser) and clearnet (with chrome) simultaneously if you're using a vpn service?
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It is my best understanding that accessing the two simultaneously is not an issue. However, you should never sign into things like Facebook, Twitter, etc through TOR. Always do that via clearnet. That being said, the "Clearnet Warning" is simply saying that it's a site outside of the Tor network, use the Tor browser to access it, as it could be LE posting a link that could log your IP. Better safe than sorry.
If I'm wrong on the simultaneous use thing, please share some insight. The only issue I could see is if you are already being watched. The VPN should add the extra layer necessary to keep you safe if the two browsers are not linked in any fashion.
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I'm not a pro at this, but a lot of clearnet sites have hazardous scripts that can steal your browser history, record your user agent (IP, Browser, Etc...), and even place tracking cookies that monitor your web activity.
This wouldn't be a huge problem if you were on, say, chrome. But this is TOR, you're conducting sensitive business here that you wouldn't want people to interfere with.
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The freedomhosting exploit relied on users browsing to clearnet sites via their tor browser following "infection" in order to report your information to the feds. If you absolutely must access the regular internet on the same device as your tor browser, simply use a separate browser (NOT a separate tor browser). In a pinch, you can always download an up to date copy of Chrome portable and wipe the folder afterwards.
DO NOT log in to anything tied to your real identity via the tor browser, period. Pretend that LE can see everything you do on tor and make it as hard as possible to link your tor activity to anything you do IRL.
EDIT: I almost forgot, DO NOT FUCKING VISIT CLEARNET LINKS YOU FIND ON TOR VIA YOUR NORMAL BROWSER. EVER!!!! It's trivial for LE to set up a unique honeypot link and collect the IPs of anyone who clicks it. Because the link is unique, they can be almost certain that any visits logged within a few minutes of the link being introduced are from SR. If you used your normal browser to access the link from your ISP account, guess what? Depending on the severity of your crimes, you may very well be fucked. Even links to major content providers such as YOUTUBE can be monitored with ease. Just point to a unique video that rarely gets any views and is not HTML5 compatible.
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So I had that backwards then. I apologize, I must have misunderstood a post that I had seen in the newbie section regarding clearnet warnings.
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No, no lol
I meant actual, unique links that one finds while browsing the darknet, chatting with others via darknet, etc. LE can easily set up the link and then watch everyone who tries to access it. If the attacker only posted the link in one spot (like SR), they can be reasonably sure that anyone who visits the link is a user of the site. Now if the link contains some kind of content that tor browser won't play, you can also expect those SR uses to access the link via clearnet.
You were correct in advising others not to access their usual clearnet destinations via tor. Browsing facebook via clearnet while another OS instance or whatnot is running tor is fine as long as the ISP account carrying the data is known to be used by you anyway. Just don't be doing that if you're using someone else's wifi to run tor in order to further strengthen your anonymity.
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Adversaries who are running Tor exit nodes can read and manipulate your clearnet traffic. Unencrypted clearnet traffic over Tor cannot be trusted, ever. Tor exit node traffic is suspicious by default, anything you do on clearnet via a Tor browser is drawing attention to yourself. Don't draw attention to yourself!
If the adversary is a government who is logging at their borders and every hop in the Tor chain goes across those borders then there's a good chance that they can tie your real IP to the stuff you're doing out of the exit node.
If you want to remain safe then you should stay inside the Tor network.