whonixcheck Hardening
Contents
Rationale[edit]
Although whonixcheck already has apparmor and systemd hardening, some marginal security and anonymity benefits are gained by reducing: the number of network connections, the amount of code running, and unnecessary functionality. This is not the default configuration, since that would come at the cost of decreased usability for the entire Whonix ™ population.
Hardening Steps[edit]
Prevent Autostart[edit]
To prevent whonixcheck from automatically starting, run.
sudo systemctl mask whonixcheck
Prevent Downloading Whonix ™ News and Whonix ™ User Census Counting[edit]
 | Complete these steps on both Whonix-Gateway ™ and Whonix-Workstation ™. |
This will prevent downloading of Whonix ™ News and the anonymous, daily Whonix ™ census. [1] [2]
Open /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf in an editor with root rights.
If you are using a graphical Whonix or Qubes-Whonix ™ with KDE, run.
kdesudo kwrite /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
If you are using a graphical Whonix or Qubes-Whonix ™ with XFCE, run.
kdesudo mousepad /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
If you are using a terminal-only Whonix, run.
sudo nano /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
Add the following content.
whonixcheck_skip_functions+=" download_whonix_news "
Prevent Polluting TransPort[edit]
| Whonix-Workstation ™ only. |
Deactivate the TransPort Test for better Stream Isolation.
Open /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf in an editor with root rights.
If you are using a graphical Whonix or Qubes-Whonix ™ with KDE, run.
kdesudo kwrite /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
If you are using a graphical Whonix or Qubes-Whonix ™ with XFCE, run.
kdesudo mousepad /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
If you are using a terminal-only Whonix, run.
sudo nano /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
Add the following content.
WHONIXCHECK_DISABLE_TRANS_PORT_TEST="1"
Save.
Prevent Running apt-get[edit]
| Complete these steps on both Whonix-Gateway ™ and Whonix-Workstation ™. |
This prevents the running of apt-get by whonixcheck.
Open /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf in an editor with root rights.
If you are using a graphical Whonix or Qubes-Whonix ™ with KDE, run.
kdesudo kwrite /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
If you are using a graphical Whonix or Qubes-Whonix ™ with XFCE, run.
kdesudo mousepad /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
If you are using a terminal-only Whonix, run.
sudo nano /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
Add the following content.
whonixcheck_skip_functions+=" check_operating_system "
Prevent torproject.org Connections[edit]
| Complete these steps on both Whonix-Gateway ™ and Whonix-Workstation ™. |
Deactivate SocksPort Test, TransPort Test and Tor Browser Update check.
Open /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf in an editor with root rights.
If you are using a graphical Whonix or Qubes-Whonix ™ with KDE, run.
kdesudo kwrite /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
If you are using a graphical Whonix or Qubes-Whonix ™ with XFCE, run.
kdesudo mousepad /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
If you are using a terminal-only Whonix, run.
sudo nano /etc/whonix.d/50_user.conf
Add the following content.
WHONIXCHECK_DISABLE_SOCKS_PORT_TEST="1" WHONIXCHECK_DISABLE_TRANS_PORT_TEST="1" whonixcheck_skip_functions+=" check_torbrowser "
Save.
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ https://phabricator.whonix.org/T689
- ↑ There are strict requirements for the Whonix ™ user count:
- no private info transferred at all
- adds no additional risk other than that of apt-get communicating with Whonix ™ servers which users are doing anyway to their systems updated
- only on Whonix-Gateway ™
- no unique identifiers of any kind
- all transmissions go through Tor
- all transmissions are using Whonix ™ Tor onion v3 service
- so we will never collect any IP addresses
- submissions happen at randomized times
- only one submission within 24 hours
- can be easily disabled
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