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:
You should transfer any passwords to a password manager such as <ahref="https://www.keepassx.org/">KeepassX</a> and then delete them from the README file. To save the file after removing passwords use <b>CTRL-x CTRL-s</b>.
It's a good idea to also copy the contents of <b>~/.ssh/id_rsa</b> and <b>~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub</b> 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 <i>Security Settings</i> 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.
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:
Select <i>Administrator controls</i> 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:
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.
IRC is useful for multi-user chat. The classic use case is for software development where many engineers might need to coordinate their activities, but it's also useful for meetings, parties and general socialising.
Then select <b>IRC</b> from the menu. However, other than via this method using ssh, irssi isn't a very good IRC client because it doesn't have the capability to onion route messages, and therefore leaks metadata. For the best security when using your IRC server, use HexChat, Emacs ERC or another client which supports socks5 proxying.
HexChat (formerly XChat) is compatible with proxying via Tor and so provides the best security when connecting to your IRC server. It will allow you to connect to your IRC server's onion address.
Select Administrator options, then <b>About this system</b> and make a note of the onion address for IRC. Also select the <b>IRC Menu</b> and take a note of the login password.
By default the IRC server is set up to require a password for users to log in. The password is the same for all users. If you want to change or remove the password:
Select <i>Administrator controls</i> then <b>IRC Menu</b> and then change the password. An empty password will allow anyone to log in, so you can have a globally accessible IRC system if you wish, although you might want to carefully consider whether that's wise.
A well written article on the state of XMPP and how it compares to other chat protocols <ahref="https://gultsch.de/xmpp_2016.html">can be found here</a>.
In mid 2016 <ahref="https://gajim.org/">Gajim</a> became the first desktop XMPP client to support the <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMEMO">OMEMO end-to-end security standard</a>, which is superior to the more traditional <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging">OTR</a> since it also includes multi-user chat and the ratcheting mechanism pioneered by Open Whisper Systems. To install it:
Open Gajim and enter your XMPP address and password.
</p>
<p>
Go to <b>Edit/Preferences</b> and select the <b>Advanced</b> tab. Under <b>Global Proxy</b> select <b>Tor</b> and the <b>Close</b> button. Then select <b>Edit/Plugins</b> and make sure that OMEMO is active (ticked), then select the <b>Close</b> button.
</p>
<p>
When you start a conversation make sure that the OMEMO box is ticked. You can also click on the keys button and trust various fingerprints. Both sides will need to do that before an encrypted chat can start.
</p>
<p>
If you wish to make backups of the OMEMO keys then they can be found within:
If you wish to use OpenPGP to encrypt your messages then go to <b>Edit/Accounts</b>, select your account and then the <b>Personal Information</b> tab. You can then choose your GPG key. When initiating a chat you can select the <b>Advanced</b> button and then select <b>Toggle OpenPGP Encryption</b>. OpenPGP is not as secure as OMEMO, but does allow you to use XMPP in a similar style to email in that the recipient of the message does not necessarily need to be online at the same time that you send it.
The <ahref="https://profanity.im">Profanity</a> shell based user interface and is perhaps the simplest way to use XMPP from a laptop. It's also a good way to ensure that your OTR keys are the same even when logging in from different laptops or devices, and it also means that if those devices later become compomised then there are no locally stored OTR keys to be found.
If the fingerprints match then you can be pretty confident that unless you have been socially engineered via the question and answer you probably are talking to who you think you are, and that it will be difficult for mass surveillance systems to know the content of the conversation. For more details see <ahref="https://www.profanity.im/otr.html">this guide</a>
When accessed via the user control panel the client is automatically routed through Tor and so if you are also using OTR then this provides protection for both message content and metadata.
Jitsi is the recommended communications client for desktop or laptop systems, since it includes the <i>off the record</i> (OTR) feature which provides some additional security beyond the usual SSL certificates.
On your desktop/laptop open Jitsi and select <b>Options</b> from the <b>Tools</b> menu.
</p>
<p>
Click <b>Add</b> to add a new user, then enter the Jabber ID which you previously specified with <i>prosodyctl</i> when setting up the XMPP server. Close and then you should notice that your status is "Online" (or if not then you should be able to set it to online).
</p>
<p>
From the <b>File</b> menu you can add contacts, then select the chat icon to begin a chat. Click on the lock icon on the right hand side and this will initiate an authentication procedure in which you can specify a question and answer to verify the identity of the person you're communicating with. Once authentication is complete then you'll be chating using OTR, which provides an additional layer of security.
</p>
<p>
When opening Jitsi initially you will get a certificate warning for your domain name (assuming that you're using a self-signed certificate). If this happens then select <b>View Certificate</b> and enable the checkbox to trust the certificate, then select <b>Continue Anyway</b>. Once you've done this then the certificate warning will not appear again unless you reinstall Jitsi or use a different computer.
</p>
<p>
You can also <ahref="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgx7VSrDGjk">see this video</a> as an example of using OTR.
The default XMPP client in Ubuntu is Empathy. Using Empathy isn't as secure as using Jitsi, since it doesn't include the <i>off the record</i> feature, but since it's the default it's what many users will have easy access to.
</p>
<p>
Open <b>System Settings</b> and select <b>Online Accounts</b>, <b>Add account</b> and then <b>Jabber</b>.
</p>
<p>
Enter your username (username@domainname) and password.
</p>
<p>
Click on <b>Advanced</b> and make sure that <b>Encryption required</b> and <b>Ignore SSL certificate errors</b> are checked. Ignoring the certificate errors will allow you to use the self-signed certificate created earlier. Then click <b>Done</b> and set your Jabber account and Empathy to <b>On</b>.
Tor Messenger is a messaging client which supports XMPP, and its onion routing enables you to protect the metadata of chat interactions to some extent by making it difficult for an adversary to know which server is talking to which. You can download Tor Messenger from <ahref="https://torproject.org">torproject.org</a> and the setup is pretty simple.
From the menu select <b>Settings</b> then <b>Expert Settings</b>. Select <b>Connect via Tor</b> and depending on your situation you might also want to select <b>Don't save encrypted messages</b>. Also within expert settings select <b>Keep in foreground</b>. This will enable you to still receive notifications when your device is in standby mode with the screen turned off.
Then select <b>Next</b>. When chatting you can use the lock icon to encrypt your conversation. OMEMO is the recommended type of encryption. It's also going through Tor, so passive surveillance of the metadata should not be easy for an adversary.
Tox is an encrypted peer-to-peer messaging system and so should work without Freedombone. It uses a system of nodes which act as a sort of directory service allowing users to find and connect to each other. The Tox node ID on the Freedombone can be found within the README within your home directory. If you have other users connect to your node then you will be able to continue chatting even when no other nodes are available.
Then from the menu select <b>Tox Chat</b>. Tox is encrypted by default and also routed through Tor, so it should be reasonably secure both in terms of message content and metadata.
In addition to voice it is also possible to do text chat via mumble. The security of this is pretty good provided that you do it via Plumble and Orbot on mobile, but compared to other options such as XMPP/Conversations or Tox the security is not as good, since the mumble server currently doesn't support forward secrecy.
Click on "add new" to add a new server and enter the default domain name for the Freedombone, your username (which can be anything) and the VoIP server password which can be found in the README file on the Freedombone. Accept the self-signed SSL certificate. You are now ready to chat.
Enter a label (which can be any name you choose for the server), the default domain name of the Freedombone, your username (which can also be anything) and the VoIP server password which can be found in the README file on the Freedombone.
Open the settings. Select General, then Connect via Tor. This will provide better protection, making it more difficult for adversaries to know who is talking to who.
Freedombone also supports SIP phones The username and domain is the same as for your email address, and the SIP password and extension number will appear within the README file in your home directory. Various SIP client options are available, such as CSipSimple on Android and Jitsi on desktop or laptop machines. Ideally use clients which support ZRTP, which will provide the best level of security.
<ahref="https://jitsi.org/Documentation/ZrtpFAQ">ZRTP</a> appears to be the current best standard to end-to-end encrypted voice calls, combining good security with simplicity of use. When the initial cryptographic negotiation between phones is done at the start of a call a short authentication string (SAS) is calculated and displayed at both ends. To check that there isn't anyone intercepting the call and acting as a <i>man in the middle</i> - as <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker">stingray type devices</a> try to do - the short authentication string can be read out and verbally confirmed between the callers. If it's the same then you can be pretty confident that the call is secure.
<tdclass="org-left">Your full name or nickname</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tdclass="org-left">Protocol</td>
<tdclass="org-left">SIP</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tdclass="org-left">Hostname</td>
<tdclass="org-left">yourdefaultdomain</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tdclass="org-left">Username</td>
<tdclass="org-left">Your username</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<tdclass="org-left">Password</td>
<tdclass="org-left">Your SIP password</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
Select the <b>Security</b> tab. Under <b>SRTP Key Exchange</b> select <b>ZRTP</b>. Unde <b>SRTP Preferences</b> select <b>Not supported warning</b> and <b>Display SAS Once</b>.
The way that RSS reading is set up on Freedombone gives you strong reading privacy. Not only is there onion routing between you and the server but also between the server and the source of the RSS feed. The only down side is that many RSS feeds are still http only, and so could be vulnerable to injection attacks, but it's expected that more of this will go to https in the foreseeable future due to a combination of growing recognition of security issues and systems like Let's Encrypt which make obtaining certificates much easier.
The RSS reader is accessible only via an onion address. This provides a reasonable degree of reading privacy, making it difficult for passive adversaries such as governments, corporations or criminals to create lists of sites which you are subscribed to.
To set up the system open <ahref="http://rss_reader_onion_address">http://rss_reader_onion_address</a> and log in with username <b>admin</b> and the password obtained either at the beginning of the install or from the README file in your home directory. You can then select the <b>Actions</b> menu and begin adding your feeds.
To access the RSS reader from a mobile device you can install a Tor compatible browser such as OrFox. It will try to automatically change to the mobile version of the user interface. Remember to add the site to the NoScript whitelist, and you may also need to turn HTTPS Everywhere off.
A note for the paranoid is that on mobile devices you get redirected to a different onion address which is specially set up for the mobile interface, so don't be alarmed that it looks like your connection is being hijacked.
Github is ok, but it's proprietary and funded by venture capital. If you been around on the internet for long enough then you know how this story eventually works itself out - i.e. badly for the users. It's really only a question of time. If you're a software developer or do things which involve the Git version control system then it's a good idea to become accustomed to hosting your own repositories, before the inevitable Github shitstorm happens.
A Git hosting system called <ahref="https://gogs.io">Gogs</a> can optionally be installed. This is very similar to Github in appearance and use. It's lightweight and so well suited for use on low power ARM servers.
Navigate to your git site and click the <b>Register</b> button. The first user registered on the system becomes the administrator. Once you've done that then it's a good idea to disable further registrations. Currently that's a little complicated, but you can do it as follows:
This will stop any spam accounts being created by random strangers or bots. You might want to mirror existing repos, and at any time a mirror can be converted into the main repo.
Select <b>Administrator controls</b> then <b>User Management</b>. Depending upon the type of installation after selecting administrator controls you might need to enter:
Everyone except for advertisers hates adverts. Not only are they annoying, but they can consume a lot of bandwidth, be a privacy problem in terms of allowing companies to track your browsing habits and also any badly written scripts they contain may introduce exploitable security holes. Also if you're poor then adverts often make you want things that you can't have.
You can block ads for any devices connected to your local network by installing the <b>pihole</b> app from <b>Add/Remove Apps</b> on the administrator control panel. This may help to improve overall performance of your devices by not wasting time downloading unwanted images or scripts.
Also don't expect perfection. Though many ads may be blocked by this system some will still get through. It's a constant cat and mouse game between advertisers and blockers.
Ensure that your system has a static local IP address (typically 192.168..) using the option on the control panel. You will also need to know the IP address of your internet router, which is usually <b>192.168.1.1</b> or <b>192.168.1.254</b>.
If you can access the settings on your local internet router then this is the simplest way to provide ad blocking for all devices which connect to it. Unfortunately some router models don't let you edit the DNS settings and if that's the case you might want to consider getting a different router.
Edit the DNS settings and add the IPv4 address which you got from the control panel About screen. Exactly how you do this will just depend upon your particular router model. You may also need to set the same address twice, because two addresses are conventional.
On a router running LibreCMC from the <b>Network</b> menu select <b>DHCP and DNS</b>. Enter the static IP address of your Freedombone system within <b>DNS Forwardings</b>, then at the bottom of the page click on <b>Save & Apply</b>. Any devices which connect to your router will now have ad blocking.
You can configure the block lists which the system uses by going to the <b>administrator control panel</b>, selecting <b>App Settings</b> then choosing <b>pihole</b>. You can also add any extra domain names to the whitelist if they're being wrongly blocked or to the blacklist if they're not blocked by the current lists.
