1RetroShare 0.6 And Tor 3The Onion Router (Tor) Installation 7Extra Tor Information

• Vidalia Control Panel 2.7 Download
• Vidalia Control Panel Download

If you are in a country where Tor is blocked, you can configure Tor to connect to a bridge during the setup process. Select 'Tor is censored in my country.' If Tor is not censored, one of the most common reasons Tor won't connect is an incorrect system clock. Please make sure it's set correctly. Normally once this Onion Icon is clicked you will immediately open up your Vidalia Control Panel, it looks like this and the network Status should say “loading Network Status” Then, after the connection is finished completing itself your Vidalia Browser screen should Say Connected to The Tor Network, and it should look like this. With the one Vidalia download, you end up with a local Privoxy proxy loaded on your local PC with an instance of Tor to connect through for privacy. Vidalia control panel. The Vidalia control panel. Download the 0.2.6 alpha, and the vidalia bundle 3. Move Vidalia.app from the bundle to /Applications ond view packages content 4. Open package content of vidalia.app from the alpha and 5. In both open packages go into the Contents dir 6. Move From alpha to the bundle: a) Frameworks dir b) MacOS/Vidalia into corresponding folder (overwrite) 7. First thing is you will need to have Vidalia bundle installed. (obviously) Next, double-click the icon for Vidalia Control Panel in your task bar. This should bring up the Vidalia Control Panel Click on 'settings' to bring up the settings screen. Click on the 'Advanced' button to bring up that tab. Take not of the path to the 'Tor Configuration.

RetroShare 0.6 And Tor

What is Tor

The Onion Router (Tor) is a connection-oriented anonymizing communication service. Tor users choose a source-routed path through a set of nodes and negotiate a 'virtual circuit' through the onion routed network. Each node knows its predecessor and successor but idealy no others. Traffic flowing down the Tor Network circuit is unwrapped by a symmetric key at each node, which reveals the downstream node.

The term 'onion routing' refers to application layers of encryption, nested like the layers of an onion, used to anonymize communication. Tor encrypts the original data, including the destination IP address, multiple times and sends it through a virtual circuit comprising successive, randomly selected Tor relays. Each relay decrypts a layer of encryption to reveal only the next relay in the circuit in order to pass the remaining encrypted data on to it. The final relay decrypts the innermost layer of encryption and sends the original data to its destination without revealing, or even knowing, the source IP address. Because the routing of the communication is partly concealed at every hop in the Tor circuit, this method eliminates any single point at which the communication can be de-anonymized through network surveillance that relies upon knowing its source and destination.

Tor Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_%28anonymity_network%29

Why use Tor

For RetroShare 0.6 users, Tor provides a distributed network of servers or relays ('onion routers') they can use after following the steps and examples listed in this wiki page. Tor users bounce their TCP streams — web traffic, ftp, ssh, etc. — around the onion routed network, and recipients, observers, and even the relays themselves have difficulty tracking the original source of the datastream. For RetroShare 0.6 users, Tor provides an added layer of security and anonymizing ability which additionally cloaks their local IP address.

Requirements

• You must be using RetroShare v0.6+ (released mid 2015) either from a downloaded package or compiled by yourself.
• The Tor binary must be installed and running on your operating system.

Before starting installing and configuring Tor, please read and understand all of the information, as most problems are caused by not correctly completing one step before proceeding to the next.

If you need help visit the RetroShare public chat lobbies, or IRC (http://chat.freenode.net port 6697 #Retroshare channel).

Retroshare 06 Hidden Node Set-Up Quick Overview

• Install onto your operating system the files of : tor and tor-geoipdb

• Create a folder for your Hidden Service

• Add the Hidden Service,Directory,Port information to your torrc file:

• Start Tor to generate your hostname,private_key files in your Hidden Service folder

• Use a text editor to open your hostname file to obtain your onion address

• Add your Onion Address,Tor Port (11040 example) and Local port number (12080 example) information you added to your torrc file to the required fields as you create a new Hidden Node RetroShare 0.6 instance.

• Now bootup your new Hidden Node Retroshare 0.6 Tor Hidden Service and enter the same information in Options -> Network -> Tor Configuration. Select OK.

The Onion Router (Tor) Installation

Different ways

Tor can be installed in a number of ways. In these steps, we'll outline and describe step-by-step 3 distinct ways to setup and successfully use Retroshare 0.6 thru the onion router (Tor):

• [Beginners Level] Tor browser bundle (TBB). This can be used as the Tor Router as it includes its own Tor binary. This is enough if you are just going to be using the Tor Bundled browser for your Tor Internet connections. This is useful for occasional regular Retroshare 0.6 routed through Tor to a friends Retroshare 0.6 Hidden Node (Tor Hidden Service). The Tor browser bundle must be up and running for the Tor connection to be enabled and is shut-down when the Tor browser bundle is exited or closed.

• [Advanced Level] The Vidalia-Tor Bundle. This is the preferred Windows Users installation because it is both tiny and fast. You simply instruct your system to start the Vidalia Gui as your system boots up. The Tor binary ( The Onion Router ) only uses a small amount of systems resources which in nearly all cases is hardly even noticed. The outlined steps can be used following the included examples and applied to all computer platforms supporting Vidalia-Tor.

• [Expert Level] The Tor (compiled) binary alone (which is installed in the system files). Many RetroShare 0.6 through Tor users following the suggested outlined steps and examples are fully capable of doing this themselves.

RetroShare 0.6 Modes of Use With Tor

RetroShare 0.6 thru Tor can be used in one of two ways:

• Regular RetroShare 0.6 thru Tor to a RetroShare 0.6 hidden node routed through tor. This method relies on the tor binary, geoip, geoip6 tor library and the torrc configuration file which is installed with the TBB (Tor Browser Bundle), or the Vidalia-Tor Bundle or the Tor system file with the tor-geoipdb files.

• Hidden Node RetroShare 0.6 through Tor operating as a hidden service. This method outlined in steps 2 and 3 below does not rely on the Tor Browser Bundle and requires above average computer knowledge and abilities.

Obtaining Tor

Download the newest Tor Binary and install it on your system via this URL: https://www.torproject.org/download/download.html.en . For other GNU/Linux Systems the latest Tor Binary Stable as well as unstable builds can also be found there.

For more information about installing on:

• Windows, visit https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-doc-windows.html.en. If you want to use Tor as a client for other applications, download one of the Vidalia bundles and turn it into a client (Settings -> Sharing -> Run as a client only). Use Vidalia for configuration and testing operation on Windows.
• MacOSX, visit https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-doc-osx.html.en.

Reference Linux Files

TBB Configuration With Regular RetroShare 0.6 [Beginner Level]

Once the Tor Browser Bundle is installed on your system, to connect to a Retroshare 0.6 friend who is operating a Tor based Hidden Node Retroshare 0.6, all that is required is set your Retroshare 0.6 Tor Configuration to port 9150.

You make this tiny change in Retroshare 0.6 Options -> Network -> Tor Configuration where you simply adjust the outgoing port to 9150. A shiny green button should confirm your Tor router is operating (The Tor Browser Bundle must be concurrently running).

To briefly test your ability to now connect to Tor confirm your Tor connection via accessing this link: https://check.torproject.org/ If you are connected successful via Tor that page will tell you. To see which Tor exit node nation you are currently using and other specific Tor exit node information you can now learn that via this link: https://atlas.torproject.org/#details/E35368CB2E50CBB7DAA0075696F0097FF592BB25

These temporary tests serve to confirm you are successfully running Tor. The Tor Browser Bundle is built to specifically allow beginners and advanced users surf the internet and various Tor onion websites with as much privacy and security as possible.

With the tiny adjustment of the outgoing port in the Retroshare 0.6 Tor Configuration area (to 9150) you can now connect your Regular Retroshare 0.6 thru Tor to your Retroshare 0.6 Tor Hidden Node friends, provided you are concurrently running your Tor Browser Bundle.

Vidalia-Tor Bundle Regular RetroShare 0.6 and Hidden Node RetroShare 0.6 through Tor as a Hidden Service Configuration [Advanced Level]

Regular, persistant users of the Tor Router generally want to run the tiny Tor Binary alone or in conjunction with the Vidalia Gui interface without the need to have the Tor Browser Bundle running full time to remain connected to the Tor Network.

The Vidalia Gui interface also provides an efficient system tray icon showing your Tor status and the Gui interface provides users with functions similar to those found in the Tor Button on the Tor Browser and additional Tor user editing options.

Although the Vidalia Gui application has not been actively upgraded during the past 2yrs, it is often bundled with Windows Tor applications but left out of the Tor Project non-Windows Tor bundles. Non-Windows system repositorys often still offer vidalia for users to optionally install if they chose.

The Vidalia configuration settings and file must point to where you have tor,torrc,geoip and geoip6 files stored.

Tor System Files Locations (linux examples)

It is best to copy torrc,geoip and geoip6 into a user created data folder instead of using the restricted system file system area. This also allows the use of a custom torrc file just for private use with Vidalia while keeping the system file area torrc file for use solely with my systems tor binary alone.

It is possible to use the system files area torrc with the needed changes and geoip,geoip6 as is or chose to Optionally copy those files into a user area created data folder and work on those as a regular user, not restricted to doing this as an administrator,root,superuser,debian-tor user.

A user-created data folder is easily done by creating a Vidalia-Data folder, copying your torrc, geoip, geoip6 files to it and then reconfiguring your torrc file and Vidalia Gui settings to the new torrc and tor data path.

Make a new user folder

Copy the torrc and tor data files Either from the Tor Browser Bundle Or from your system files to your new vidalia-data folder.

or

If required, change, update your ownership on these files

Your new vidalia-data user folder should now contain the torrc, geoip and geoip6 files.

Using the Vidalia Control Panel (Settings --> Advanced tab) Or a text editor on the vidalia.conf file, update to the new paths for DataDirectory and Torrc to point to your new vidalia-data folder.

Example complete torric file cd ~/vidalia-data/torrc

Upon confirmation the Tor router is operating properly on your system then start your regular Retroshare 0.6.0 instance and in your Options window -> Network -> select Tor Configuration then check that your TOR Socks Proxy port is set to 9050.

TOR Socks Proxy 127.0.0.1 9050 Green Light Outgoing Okay!

Congratulations, you can now connect to Hidden Nodes even as you run RetroShare standard nodes operations and to those that run Hidden Services, they can now swap their Tor RetroShare v0.6 public keys with you.

Shut down your tor binary if it is running. On a Gnu/Linux system confirm using or issue

First, create your hidden-service folder using something similar to this example:

Next add the Hidden Service path and ports to your torrc configuration file:

Add the following to your torrc file using a text editor and save it. If you are using my suggestion option of a user created vidalia-data folder then that is the torrc file you will be editing. Example

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and add

Note, You can change either port to another port number as you wish prior to creating your hostname, private_key files. Of course your HiddenServiceDir folder path is going to be different so use my example only as an example also.

Settings:

[General Tab]Start the Tor software when Vidalia starts/usr/bin/tor <-- Where your tor binary file is found[Sharing Tab]Run as a client only[Services]Onion Address: xa76giaf6ifda7ri63i263.onion <-- Yours will be differentVirtual Port: 11040 <-- From the above Port exampleTarget: 127.0.0.1:12080 <-- From the above Stepped Port exampleDirectory Path: /home/name/hideserv <-- From the above exampleEnabled[Advanced Tab]Tor ControlUse TCP connection (ControlPort)Address 127.0.0.1:9051Tor Configuration File/home/name/vidalia-data/torrc <-- Example yours will varyData Directory/home/name/vidalia-data <-- Example yours will vary

Using a text editor, open vidalia.conf in the ~/.vidalia folder Make your changes following these examples. Note: Again,your file paths will differ and your onion address will certainly be different. Lines 24-37

Now start Vidalia which should start tor, the Tor Binary then will write two files into your user created hideserv folder (hostname and private_key) if not encountering errors in your torrc file or failure to bind the needed tor port.

If tor errors out being unable to bind to the needed tor port, its likely to have encountered another tor instance running already which must be shut-down before trying again. If this happens at this stage then select in Vidalia shut-down tor and then on your terminal command line enter these commands:

Or alternatively

or

Upon successfully creating a new Tor Circuit wait a few minutes then in Vidalia choose shut-down tor.

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Using a text editor, open the /home/name/hideserv/hostname file and copy the onion address listed inside it. Make a note of the onion address along with the hiddenservice port information you placed into your torrc file such as (HiddenServicePort 11040 127.0.0.1:12080) as these are needed when next creating the new hidden RetroShare node.

After ensuring that Tor is operational with your new HiddenService torrc additions and the tor binary has generated your new hostname, private_key files, continue:

Now, Generate your new RetroShare 0.6 Tor as a Hidden Service instance. Select at RetroShare start-up 'Manage and nodes...' and check-mark the 'Create a new Identity' box and the 'Create a hidden node' box and then as the certificate information is requested manually adding the Tor generated Onion address where Tor Address is requested and Port 11040 .

Once the RetroShare hidden service has started and you are logged in, select the Options tool:

• RS06 Options -> Network -> Tor Configuration -> Incoming TOR Connections
• Set Local Address to port 12080
• Set Onion Address to what you copied from your hostname file and port 11040
• Chose OK to close and save your changes

then

• RS06 Options -> Server -> Network Configuration
• Recheck your Local Address 127.0.0.1 which should now reflect Port 12080

Again both of the above port numbers used are simply as an example, you are free to use them as given or change them at as noted.

Congratulations, this completes the steps to successfully enable a Hidden Node Retroshare 0.6 instance thru the Vidalia-Tor bundle as a Tor Hidden Service.

Using only the Tor binary system file for Regular RetroShare 0.6 and Hidden Node RetroShare 0.6 thru Tor as a Hidden Service Configuration [Expert Level]

The use of the system files Tor binary alone (not using Vidalia) is termed 'Expert' level by the Tor project developers. Administrative (Windows) or Root/Superuser (Linux) level permissions are needed and used to access, read, write the resulting torrc updates and Hidden Service files. The following steps will help you accomplish this but at this Tor user level you should already know how to proceed step by step in this Expert Tor level if you go this route. .Many Non-Windows users will want to bypass the previous Beginner (Tor Browser Bundle) and Advanced Vidalia-Tor Bundled steps previously outlined as the Vidalia gui is no longer being updated nor bundled with the Tor binary for non-windows platforms. Although the sole use of the tiny systems file binary is considered expert level, its not difficult for most computer savy users and administrators to follow the following examples and successfully apply them on their Windows,Linux,Mac systems with few changes from the examples provided here.

Install the newest Tor binary onto your system files using the following reference links. Many Linux repositorys also have the newest Tor binary also.

Tor Binary Only Downloads from Torprojet.orgWindows https://www.torproject.org/download/download.html.enWindows https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/4.0.3/tor-win32-tor-0.2.5.10.zipUnix,Linux, BSD https://www.torproject.org/download/download-unix.html.enSource Tarball https://www.torproject.org/download/download.html.en

From Linux Ubuntu PPA

Test for system Tor binary version

Once installed then change the tor and tor folders ownership from its existing administrative/superuser/root/debian-tor only ownership. Using Linux as an example:

Copy the geoip, geoip6 files to the system folder you have the torrc file in these steps and examples.

Note: Older versions of the Tor Binary were stored in other system file locations, if you see those in the whereis command then rename or eliminate them entirely to prevent them from accidently getting autostarted and running concurrently in the background.

For example /usr/local/bin

Example for Tor Hidden Service Folder Name with paths,ports. Your system paths will be different, your hidden service folder name and ports can be the same or changed as you wish then applied to the torrc file edit. Skip these hidden service steps if you only want Regular RS06 to connect to a Tor RS06 Hidden Service.

Create your Tor Hidden Service Folder

Now in terminal mode start Tor to see if you have any errors in your configuration and torrc file, if so then the log file should also echo the error msgs to guide you in correcting them.

If you are ONLY going to use your regular Retroshare 0.6 to connect to friends running a Hidden Node Retroshare 0.6 Tor Hidden Service then you are finished. Bootup your regular Retroshare 0.6 instance, choose Options -> Network -> Tor Configuration Port 9050 and confirm the Green Indicator that you are now torrified, congratulations. You can now trade and accept friends public RS06 keys with RS06 Hidden Node Tor users.

If you are going to additionally create your own Hidden Node Retroshare 0.6 Tor Hidden Service then using a text editor open the newly created hostname file where you created your /home/name/hideserv folder.

Example: gyzp2zrhw3owqa5y.onionand copy your torrc HiddenServicePort information Example: 11040 127.0.0.1:12080

Note: Your Onion Address found in your hostname file will certainly be different from the above example.

Now add that information as it is requested during your creation/generation of a new instance Hidden Node Retroshare 0.6. Then bootup your new Hidden Node Retroshare 0.6 Tor Hidden Service and enter the same information in Options -> Network -> Tor Configuration. Select OK then choose Options -> Server -> Network Configuration and confirm your Retroshare 0.6 Hidden Node local address now reflects the correct Port. Example 12080

Congratulations, you've extended the new Retroshare 0.6.0 beta platform to now actively have tor connections and in the additional step of adding a Tor Hidden Service, to also operate a Hidden Node Retroshare 0.6 as a Tor Hidden Service.

Note: At the time of adding the beginning,advanced and expert tor level steps for Retroshare 0.6, the button indicators in the Hidden Node RS06 instance (Options -> Network -> Tor Configuration, and Options -> Server -> Network Configuration) do not light-up green when Tor is configured correctly but remain grey/black. This is a todo item during the Retroshare 0.6.0 beta phase.

Extra Tor Information

Configuration of Tor Bridges

Tor Bridges are essentially unlisted Tor Relays. As there is no public list of them, Nations and ISP's blocking public known Tor relays very unlikely to block private unlisted Tor bridges.

Tor Bridges represent a important push-back and resistance to any outright blocking Tor by governments and ISPs.

Tor bridges will assist those affected RetroShare 0.6 users who are blocked from internet access to either regular RetroShare 06 instances or RetroShare 06 Tor users and RetroShare 06 Hidden Node Tor users.

How do I find a bridge relay?

There are two main ways to learn about a bridge address:

• Get some friends to run private bridges for you

• Use some of the public bridges

How To Use Bridges

To use private bridges, ask your friends to run Vidalia and Tor in an uncensored area of the Internet, and then click on Help censored users in Vidalia's Relay settings page. Then they should privately send you the Bridge address line at the bottom of their Relay page. Unlike running an exit relay, running a bridge relay just passes data to and from the Tor network, so it shouldn't expose the operator to any abuse complaints.

You can find public bridge addresses by visiting https://bridges.torproject.org. The answers you get from that page will change every few days, so check back periodically if you need more bridge addresses.

Another way to find public bridge addresses is to send mail to bridges@torproject.org with the line get bridges by itself in the body of the mail. However, to make it harder for an attacker to learn lots of bridge addresses, you must send this request from a Gmail account.

Configuring more than one bridge address will make your Tor connection more stable, in case some of the bridges become unreachable.

BridgeDB https://bridges.torproject.org/

It is important to get working Tor Bridges that do not require any pluggable transports nor IPv6 addressing: https://bridges.torproject.org/options

Set those options and choose 'Get Bridges'.

The following are some examples of Tor bridges obtained when following the above steps:

Using the Vidalia Gui or Tor Button on the Tor Browser, select 'Tor Network Settings'. Check box to 'My ISP blocks connections to the Tor network'. And enter each of the bridge lines you received in the above steps one at a time. Adding more than one Tor Bridge address line will make your Tor connection more stable and added insurance in case any of the other Tor bridges become unreachable.

Sharing your private Tor Bridge to help Tor friends overcome censorship and Internet blocking.

It is also possible to setup a free Tor Bridge using the Amazon EC2 cloud computing platform. The Tor Cloud project images quickly and easily setup your private Tor Bridge via a Tor Bridge virtual machine cloud based image.

Higher Security

For higher security, obfuscation protocol plugins are used to camouflage the Tor internal data stream in the private Tor Bridge. While this is not a Tor Exit server, changing the Tor data relay to appear as different or as normal Internet data streams can assist to bypass Nations and ISPs censoring and firewall blocks which attempt to actively lock users out of all Tor access.

Some examples are

• obfs2
• obfs3 (this is the recommended solution),
• scramblesuit; and
• fte.

Links for More Information

• Vidalia Bridge Bundle

• Vidalia Bridge Bundle (For Windows)

• vidalia-bridge-bundle-0.2.4.23-0.2.21.exe

More Information For The Curious

The RS06 developers did not automate the process of modifying the torrc file and creating the hidden service folder because there are different restrictions using the system files tor binary vs the user located Tor binary in the Tor Browser Bundle. The system files Tor binary requires administrative/root/debian-tor permissions to read/write/modify the torrc file in the system file and in the Hidden Service folder.

It is important for computer security to prevent third party application with administrative/root/debian-tor permissions as a superuser on computer systems. To use the Tor binary in system files and not have to concurrently use the Tor Browser bundle while running multiple Tor applications including the RS06 Hidden Node.

The Tor Browser bundled Tor binary does not reside in the system files folders and therefore does not need administrative/root/debian-tor permissions to access,write and modify the Hidden Service folder.

An undocumented feature in Vidalia was discovered which automatically changed the permissions by the system files Tor binary to access/read/write/modify a user folder torrc file and write, access, modify the hidden service folder hostname, private_key files in a regular user created folder (for example in the notes previously is named which I choose to name vidalia-data).

This allows the advanced Tor user to use the system file Tor binary with a user stored, created, changed, updated torrc (tor configuration file). As outlined in the previous RS06 Tor steps, other files need to be added such as geoip, geoip6 and cert caches to the user created vidalia-data folder by simply copying those over from the ones created and supplied with the Tor Browser Bundle. ( /tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Tor folder files )

If the system files Tor binary doesn't have the correct permissions to read, write and modify the torrc file then it simply supplys some dumbed-down default values which in the case of a Hidden Service operation are going to fail everytime.

These issues can be solved by adding the tiny Vidalia Gui interface which also allows the user instant debugging messages as well as other features for the user. The previous steps detailed above in the RS06 Tor pages how to use the system files tor binary with the Vidalia Gui interface.

External links

Useful links to visit:

• Why Tor project disadvise file sharing inside Tor network : 'How can I share files anonymously through Tor?'

Onion sites:

• Caves Tor hidden retrochat: http://chat7zlxojqcf3nv.onion/
• Silk Road 2.0 Url: http://silkroad6ownowfk.onion
• Agora Onion Address Tor http://agorabasgefge4qo.onion
• Utopia Market URL: http://ggvow6fj3sehlm45.onion
• RoadSilk url: http://yjhzeedl5osagmmr.onion
• White rabbit marketplace URL (Tor): http://rabbittorvr74veg.onion

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