Big name individual hackers and hacker groups everywhere in the news are getting caught and thrown in jail. Everytime I see something like this happen, I won't lie, I get a little sad. Then I wonder, how are these guys getting caught? If a group like LulzSec, with all the fame and "1337-ness" can get caught, I think my hacker comrades are doing something wrong.
When members of LulzSec started getting captured, it was because proxy and VPN services complied to federal request and handed over the private information of its users. I think this is wrong for a number of reasons—foremost, people should be able to have their own privacy respected. Today's Null Byte will be demonstrating one of the methods around this: Chaining VPNs.
A VPN allows you to connect to a remote network, and over all ports, encrypt and forward your traffic. This also changes your IP address. Chaining VPNs is a tricky task, though there is a simple and uncommon method I know of. Using multiple VPNs together has the huge perk of being completely anonymous.
How Does Chaining VPNs Work?
First, a person would connect to the VPN. Then, when connected to the first VPN, you chain to the second, and since a bunch of people share the same IP, the second VPN has no way of knowing who tunneled to it. An even better scenario is where you use an eastern VPN as your first, because our country has no jurisdiction to retrieve the logs from them, thus increasing your security.
However, to chain VPNs, the second VPN would need to know how the first VPN's traffic was encrypted. This flaw makes it impossible to chain them in this method, unless you own both VPNs (not very likely).
So, how can we chain VPNs then? I'll show you how by using a virtual machine!
Requirements
Step 1 Install OpenVPN & a VirtualBox Computer
Text in bold is a terminal command.
First, we need to install the VPN client for Linux users. Windows users can download the program here and here, and run the installer normally. Mac users can use this GUI for OpenVPN for Mac.
- Change to the Downloads directory.
- Configure the installation.
./configure - Compile and install.
make && sudo make install - Now we need to install VirtualBox. This will allow us to have a virtual operating systems running from within our computer. Download VirtualBox: Windows, Mac, Linux.
- Install a virtual machine of your choice for Windows or Linux and Mac, then install OpenVPN to it.
Step 2 Chain the VPNs
Start up your virtual machine, and configure them both.
- For Windows users using the default VPN client, use this guide to connect to a VPN. Linux and Mac users, go here.
- Connect to VPN A with your host OS.
- Start up your virtual machine of choice, and connect to VPN B with it.
- Operate from within your virtual machine, and you will be safe from prying eyes. If you need to delete the virtual machine, make sure you securely delete it, and your information will be safe.
For Null Byte news, follow me on Twitter. Also, join the IRC and come hang out with us!
Image via Manuel Corpa
