I need serious anonymity online - is this setup secure

B1TCS said:

It doesn't make any sense to use VPS instead of a VPN if you are trying to hide your identity, some vpn providers proved in court that they do not keep any logs, so couldn't help in the investigation, I see no reason to use a VPS in this case.

I'd recommend (VM + VPN + TOR) to the OP

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I was considering Whonix but Tails suits my case better as I won't need storage and forensical evidence is literally none in Tails compared to Whonix so it seems that fits my case better. I don't need security in the host as there won't be sensitive information on my system. Does that make sense? That's what I got from superficial research - correct me If I'm wrong.

rafumem said:

First of all thank you. Actually I live in Turkey and ExpressVPN is one of the 2-3 VPN services that I am considering - beside TorGuard - as I am aware of the event in the article. And that also means I am not in a Five Eyes Alliance country so I believe it is relatively safe. About the faraday cage - wouldn't removing the SIM Card do the trick? I will just plug it when I receive SMS and I will know when. The phone will be off otherwise. I will be changing sim cards on a monthly basis not as a caution - it is part of the procedure. I can renew the phone on a monthly basis too as a precaution though I did not understand IMEI/simcard locks you mentioned. I will use old nokia buttonned phones as burners - do they have such things? Can't you just take out the sim and plug a new one? If not I can renew the phone alright.

I am not gonna do a own setup - I am not an expert and I do trust few VPN service providers. I will pay anonymously and will use USER - TOR - VPN - INTERNET setup so I guess the government can access my traffic? Some guy mentioned they can tap VPN servers to start keeping logs covertly even if the VPN Service doesn't log but that's a bit extreme and I am not a INTERPOL level terrorist so that's a bit extreme it seems. What do you think about possible vulnerabilities I may have in the setup I mentioned?

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You setup is not any safer than just using TOR. If you want to make it safer and hide the fact that you are using TOR than you have to use VPN before TOR.

B1TCS said:

It doesn't make any sense to use VPS instead of a VPN if you are trying to hide your identity, some vpn providers proved in court that they do not keep any logs, so couldn't help in the investigation, I see no reason to use a VPS in this case.

I'd recommend (VM + VPN + TOR) to the OP

Click to expand...

rafumem said:

I was considering Whonix but Tails suits my case better as I won't need storage and forensical evidence is literally none in Tails compared to Whonix so it seems that fits my case better. I don't need security in the host as there won't be sensitive information on my system. Does that make sense? That's what I got from superficial research - correct me If I'm wrong.

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As I said you can setup VPN on your router then and connect to this router on TAILS pc. Or simply just use TOR because there's no real benefit to have VPN over TOR

rafumem said:

I was considering Whonix but Tails suits my case better as I won't need storage and forensical evidence is literally none in Tails compared to Whonix so it seems that fits my case better. I don't need security in the host as there won't be sensitive information on my system. Does that make sense? That's what I got from superficial research - correct me If I'm wrong.

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Yes, you should be fine using this setup

Does the ISP knows that we are connected to a VPN? Cannot this info help the government somehow?

I will be asking another question regarding a even more sensitive situation. I understand if you do not wish to give advice as this contains money laundering. But this is the case: As you can also see from my post - the reason I need such security is because I am part of an organization that works against the current radical government of Turkey. Our organization despite having a variety of income methods - also has minimal income in stealth Paypal accounts from sales of banned political material like books etc and small donations from supportive fellas from all over the world. I would like to ask a question regarding Paypal to crytocurrencies if you are okey with that.

Paypal has withdrew from Turkey since 2016 and it's not possible to withdraw money to bank accounts and launder them from there - which also has its own risks. The method that I am hoping to try is to launder it in P2P platforms with buying XMR or BTC but they need serious verifications that I cannot or am not aware to bypass anonymously as fake IDs from darknet etc are not sufficient - they need address verifications - selfies etc. which I don't know if possible to bypass somehow.

As a result - since I do not want to sell these funds for %50 fees on darknet markets or don't want to send photos of myself smiling to localmonero sellers that can sell me out if authorities contact them. I was considering to sell them back to myself. I will be contacting myself from a different IP address in the aforementioned setup and send the money to a legitimate Paypal I use as a localmonero seller. Then I will send some XMR back to the buyer account - send those XMR that is not even worth much to a mymonerowallet. And with the actual money sent to the monero seller Paypal account I will withdraw it to a designated bank account via TransferWise that asks for KYC but I believe that won't be a problem as in my defence that is my legitimate account and the money is from selling legal XMR. The thing is monero sellers are probably laundering money all the time but the laws in turkey do not ask for KYC rules when selling XMR on localmonero.co . They don't even have any comprehensive laws regarding cryptocurrencies nor their taxation. I can use the Transferwise money to buy higher amounts for less fees by international wire methods on verified accounts in localbitcoins etc. Or I can send them to a bank in Turkey and use the fiat to get XMR and store them in a cold wallet.

My question is - first of all it makes sense to think that local authorities can get to us if they ask to people that we buy XMR or BTC from right? Those sellers may store our photos and IDs in case they get investigated. How possible is that? If not - they still take so much fees and probably only sell for a maximum of 500-1000USD. It is harder and more expensive due to fees they have to launder more amounts like 10-15k USD. Is there a vulnerability in the selling back to myself method that I just mentioned?

I'd like to hear your opinions on this if you are willing to share them. It's a bit borderline inappropriate but let me just try my chance @satyr85 @pycckuu4ejl @AlexanderTheGreat @B1TCS

Or if its possible to verify myself with purely fake IDs - selfies - mobile phone and address confirmations then I can use stealth revolut /transferwise to get btc on BISQ : a decentralized p2p platform - and convert them to XMR without ever sending it to my actual bank account. Finish it with transferwise and Bisq.

Tor is not a good option, Check Whonix but it requires some modifications. It's not that easy. Just my 2 cents.

feanor said:

Does the ISP knows that we are connected to a VPN? Cannot this info help the government somehow?

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Your connection to VPN is useless to ISP. It is not used for anything too serious.
@rafumem Now this topic I am not expert in. Neither I'd like to participate in.
@Nut-Nights Whonix doesn't require any modifications and is not at all complicated. He however uses Tails which is essentially somewhat the same thing.

Nut-Nights said:

Tor is not a good option, Check Whonix but it requires some modifications. It's not that easy. Just my 2 cents.

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Could you eloborate why is it a bad option? As far as I researched - Tails provides no forensical evidence and User-TOR-VPN-Internet configuration if payed VPN anonymously provides solid privacy. Is there something I am not aware in this configuration like vulnerabilities in the TOR network?

Man was this an interesting read, thanks for info everyone