#+TITLE: #+AUTHOR: Bob Mottram #+EMAIL: bob@freedombone.net #+KEYWORDS: freedombox, debian, beaglebone, hubzilla, email, web server, home server, internet, censorship, surveillance, social network, irc, jabber #+DESCRIPTION: Turn the Beaglebone Black into a personal communications server #+OPTIONS: ^:nil toc:nil #+HTML_HEAD: #+BEGIN_CENTER [[file:images/logo.png]] #+END_CENTER #+BEGIN_EXPORT html

Usage

#+END_EXPORT | [[Readme]] | | [[Improving ssh security]] | | [[Administrating the system via an onion address (Tor)]] | | [[./mobile.html][Mobile advice]] | | [[./usage_email.html][Using Email]] | | [[./app_syncthing.html][Syncing to the Cloud]] | | [[./app_dlna.html][Play Music]] | | [[./app_gnusocial.html][Microblogging (GNU Social)]] | | [[./app_hubzilla.html][Social Network]] | | [[./app_irc.html][Multi-user chat with IRC]] | | [[./app_xmpp.html][XMPP/Jabber]] | | [[./app_tox.html][Tox]] | | [[./app_mumble.html][Mumble]] | | [[./app_rss.html][RSS Reader]] | | [[./app_gogs.html][Git Projects]] | | [[Adding or removing users]] | | [[./app_pihole.html][Blocking Ads]] | * Readme After the system has installed a README file will be generated which contains passwords and some brief advice on using the installed systems. You can read this with the following commands: #+BEGIN_SRC bash ssh username@domainname -p 2222 emacs ~/README #+END_SRC You should transfer any passwords to a password manager such as [[https://www.keepassx.org/][KeepassX]] and then delete them from the README file. To save the file after removing passwords use *CTRL-x CTRL-s*. To exit you can either just close the terminal or use *CTRL-x CTRL-c* followed by the *exit* command. * Improving ssh security To improve ssh security you can generate an ssh key pair on your system and then upload the public key to the Freedombone. On your local machine: #+BEGIN_SRC bash ssh-keygen #+END_SRC For extra security you may also want to add a passphrase to the ssh private key. You can show the generated public key with: #+BEGIN_SRC bash cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub #+END_SRC Log into your system and open the control panel. #+BEGIN_SRC bash ssh username@domain -p 2222 #+END_SRC Select /Administrator controls/ then /Manage Users/ then /Change user ssh public key/. Copy and paste the public key here, then exit. It's a good idea to also copy the contents of *~/.ssh/id_rsa* and *~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub* to you password manager, together with the private key password if you created one. There are advantages and disadvantages to using ssh keys for logins. The advantage is that this is much more secure than a memorised password, but the disadvantage is that you need to carry your ssh keys around and be able to install them on any computer of mobile device that you use. In high security or hostile infosec environments it may not be possible to carry or use USB thumb drives containing your keys and so memorised passwords may be the only available choice. If you wish to only use ssh keys then log in to the Freedombone, become the root user and open the control panel with the 'control' command. Select /Security Settings/ then keep hitting enter until you reach the question about allowing password logins. Select "no" for that, then apply the settings. Any subsequent attempts to log in via a password will then be denied. * Administrating the system via an onion address (Tor) You can also access your system via the Tor system using an onion address. To find out what the onion address for ssh access is you can do the following: #+BEGIN_SRC bash ssh username@freedombone.local -p 2222 #+END_SRC Select /Administrator controls/ then select "About this system" and look for the onion address for ssh. You can then close the terminal and open another, then do the following on your local system: #+BEGIN_SRC bash freedombone-client #+END_SRC This will set up your ssh environment to be able to handle onion addresses. In addition if you use monkeysphere then you can do: #+BEGIN_SRC bash freedombone-client --ms yes #+END_SRC Then you can test ssh with: #+BEGIN_SRC bash ssh username@address.onion -p 2222 #+END_SRC Subsequently even if dynamic DNS isn't working you may still be able to administer your system. Using the onion address also gives you some degree of protection against corporate or government metadata analysis, since it becomes more difficult to passively detect which systems are communicating. * Adding or removing users Log into the system with: #+BEGIN_SRC bash ssh username@domainname -p 2222 #+END_SRC Select *Administrator controls* then *User Management*. Depending upon the type of installation after selecting administrator controls you might need to enter: #+BEGIN_SRC bash sudo su control #+END_SRC [[file:images/controlpanel/control_panel_manage_users.jpg]]