SSH Tunneling With Tunnelier and Proxifier Tutorial

February 3, 2010 | Posted by agus

Surf The Web Anonymously : Why do you need to do that?

Nowadays the latest technology makes it easier than for the government, web sites owners and business organizations to track precisely what you do while surfing the web, what websites you have visited. They develop a well-rounded examination of your online behavior and more and more governments around the world increasingly call for online records thus your internet privacy is now more exposed than ever.

Whenever you surf the internet, you leave yourself open to being snooped upon by web sites. They can track your online behavior, find out what operating system and browser you are running, discover your computer name, reveal the last sites you have visited, analyze your history list, dig into your cache, probe your IP address and pick up information about you such as your geographical position and many more. Web site applies various methods to gather this information, yet the two most common methods are examining your IP address and placing cookies on your computer. Pairing your IP address with your cookies makes it simpler for them to acquire your personal profiles.

There are things you can do to keep your surfing habits anonymous and protect your internet privacy and surf anonymously. There are several methods to surf the internet anonymously without leaving your traces, this article deals with how to do that with Secure Shell or SSH.

What is SSH?

Secure Shell or SSH is a network protocol that allows data to be exchanged employing a secure channel between two networked devices] Used chiefly on Linux and Unix based systems to access shell accounts, SSH was designed as a substitution for Telnet and other insecure remote shells, which send information, notably passwords, in plaintext, leaving them open for interception. The encryption used by SSH allows for confidentiality and integrity of data over an vulnerable network, such as the Internet. SH uses public-key cryptography to authenticate the remote computer and allow the remote computer to authenticate the user, if necessary. SSH is commonly utilized to log into a remote machine and execute commands, but it also supports tunneling, forwarding TCP ports and X11 connections; it can channel files using the associated SFTP or SCP protocols.

Surfing anonymously With SSH Tunneling : Step By Step Tutorial

Step One: Register With SSH Providers

Register with SSH server providers, there are a heck of them , you simply put the word “SSH Account” in the search engine box. I personally use a free SSH account from Rootshell , you may register to get yours by visiting their website at www.rootshell.be . When registering make sure you provide a reasonable and convincing explanation as to why you want to use their free ssh service. It usually takes three until four days before your application gets approved and you will get an email notification when your registration is successful . If otherwise your registration is rejected you will not get an email notification. From my personal experience , given it is a free service you will usually not get a stable connection, meaning you will get disconnected occasionally. If you wish to get the most out of SSH connection you’re advised to subscribe to paid SSH services.

Step Two : Install SSH Client

In order for you to be able to connect the remote SSH Server you need to install SSH client on your computer. Putty is the most popular one and is widely used by tech savvy web surfers to surf the web anonymously. I personally use Tunnelier, a free SSH client which I figure more user friendly and easier to configure. You may download tunnelier here. After finish downloading Tunnelier click the the installer twice and follow the instruction.

Install Tunnelier

Step Three : Configure Tunnelier SSH Client

Now you have installed Tunnelier on your computer, the next step is to configure it by setting the required parameters. Put in the server name or the remote SSH proxy server and port you will be using to connect to it in the host and port fields. Typically the default port is 22 though you may also use other ports such as 443, 80 etc . You may ask your SSH service providers what ports are available. Also don’t forget to fill in your user name and password with which you register with the SSH server providers next to the server menu and check the “store encrypted password in profile” box.

Next step would be to fill in your local proxy and port by clicking on the “proxy settings” if you surf the web behind company or school proxies . Set the proxy type to HTTP as most companies or schools use HTTP proxy as opposed to SOCK proxy. If you are accessing the internet directly just leave the proxy settings field blank.

Put Your Proxy and Port

Next : Configure Tunnelier to reconnect automatically just in case your connection get disconnected by checking the “always reconnect automatically” located in the options tab.

Next : In the Services tab enable forwarding option by checking the box in the SOCKS/HTTP Forwarding option menu and leave other parameters unchanged.

Next : Now Back to the login tab, and click on the login until you’re connected to the SSH server .

Wait until connection with remote SSH server has established indicated by the Tunnelier icon in the right bottom corner turns white from grey.

Step Four : Configure Your Browser to surf Anonymously

Now you have connected to the remote SSH server, the final step is to configure your browser to connect through remote server by setting your browser proxy settings to 127.0.01 port 1080. In internet explorer you can locate proxy settings : Tool ——> Connections ——–> LAN Settings ——-> Advanced, as shown in the bellow picture :

In Firefox : proxy settings is defined in the following Tool ——> Options ——–>Network ——-> Advanced as shown in the bellow picture:

Done!! ……. Now you can surf the web anonymously without leaving traces in your internet service provider, the visited websites or your company or school web server.

Note : This tutorial specifically deals with how to use your browsers to surf the net anonymously without the curious eyes of your school or office administrators.

Note :

Some applications may not work with SOCK proxy and require additional “proxifying software” such as Proxifier. Click the following link : Use Proxifier with Your Freedom and Tunnelier to find out more.