By: Z33MAX
August 16, 2016
Identity Secret: How to Become a Ghost Hacker with Proxychains
By: Z33MAX
August 16, 2016
Welcome Back, Cybrarians!!!!
When it comes to hacking remotely, the number one priority that comes to a hacker’s mind is how to stay anonymous and operate under the radar in order to be safe.
Anonymity is a big topic in the digital world that becomes complicated as technology advances. However, achieving a complete anonymity is a myth, simply because the digital world based on the internet was not built to be used anonymously. You're never completely anonymous on the internet; you have to keep that idea in mind.
That being said, they are some ways, if done together, that can minimize the level of exposure and trace-ability, such as VPNs, Proxychains, changing physical locations and so on….
In our tutorial today, we'll go through setting up Proxychains on Kali Linux in order to use it later in other hacking tutorials.
Let’s start...
Terminology:
Proxy: the idea of a proxy, in general, is directing traffic from your system (computer) to another system (computer or server) before reaching the targeted destination.
Proxy Server: is the midpoint between the client/hacker computer (your computer) and the targeted computer or server.
As you see below in the diagram, you get the external IP address from your ISP (internet Service Provider). Instead of connecting directly to the target, your traffic will travel through one or more servers and you will get a new IP address, before reaching the intended destination. These servers are the called proxy server.
Proxychains: are using multiple proxy servers to obscure or hide your original IP.
NOTES:
1- The more proxies you use, the slower your internet connection gets, as a result of bouncing packets from one server to another.
2- Spend a good amount of time searching for a good proxies for your mission.
3-Your proxies choice should be based on your location and laws of your area; it's recommended to take the time to know which proxies ensure obscurity and are less likely to be traced back to your identity.
4- The weakest link is the proxychain is your original IP address that can be traced back to you. This should be taken in consideration as where to get your internet connection. This should add a layer of anonymity to whole package.
Tutorial Requirements:
1- Kali Linux virtualbox
2- Proxies: these are list of common proxies. Yet, as I mentioned above, choose them carefully.
Step 1: Change Network SettingsBefore you start your box, change the settings of your Network to a Bridged Network.
Step 2: Choose Your Proxies
For the purpose of this tutorial, I chose 3 proxies from different locations. As I mentioned before, spend some time choosing the right proxies for you. Remember NEVER depend on one proxy or proxy site. Always keep moving, keep bouncing.
Step 3: Configure Proxychains
Locate proxychains configuration file:
>> locate proxychains
Edit the configuration file using any file editor:vim, nano, leafpad,pico.
Once you hit the command, you should see the configurations below.
They are 3 different settings for proxychains and each one serves a different purpose.
1- Strict chain: is used when the order of the proxies is important to you. The connection will go through your list, one by one, as you listed them. This comes in handy if you know that all the proxies you chose are working and you can rely on them. Strict chain will help you craft a scenario as to where the attacks come from as you choose the locations to align with the mission.
2- Dynamic chain: goes through your list in order, but if one of the proxies timed out or is not working anymore, it skips it and goes to the next one in the list.
By default strict mode is uncommented out; if you want to switch to dynamics, comment out strict_chain by adding pound sign “#”in front of it, like below:
And remove the pound sign ”#” to use the dynamic_chain
3- Random chain: goes through the proxy list randomly without any order, every time you make a connection, you will get a different IP address. This means that each time you use proxychains, the chain of proxy will look different to the target destination, which makes it harder to trace the traffic back to you.
Note: If you want to use random_chain, make sure you comment the other two and uncomment “random_chain”
* To add your proxy list :
Go down the file under#Add proxy list and add your proxies
The list of proxies will include the protocol type, IP address and port number
Note: When you add the proxies, use the “tab key instead of “space” to avoid any problems while running proxychains later
Ex: Socks4”tabs”IP_address”tab”Port_number
Now that you added the list of the proxies, it's the time to test them to see if they work properly as expected.
Step 4: Testing Your Proxies
Now that we set everything up, let’s test it and see how it goes.
Before we start using the proxychains, let's check out original IP.
>>>> curl icanhazip.com
Now, let's check our IP address using the proxychains; I'm using dynamic_chain switch
>>> proxychains curl icanhazip.com
As you see above, using the dynamic switch helps skipping the timeout responses. The connection bounced from one IP to another - skipping the timeout until it reached the destination with 80.169.208.218 IP were the response message was OK.
- One of the greatest things about proxychains is that you can use it to scan networks or web servers. Sometimes anonymously, like below using Nmap
>>> proxychains nmap -sS -T4 www.google.com
sS for (TCP SYN scan)
T4 for time
NOTES:
As you see, the above connection bounced from one IP to another until it hit the target with a different IP from the one it started the scanning with.
Keep trying multiple times, as sometimes the scanning will time out a couple of times before you get a response back.
That’s all for this tutorial. In the coming ones, we'll use proxychains for remote/external hacking. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more...
@Z33MAXX
