Hey guys.
I posted this earlier in this forum, then it was moved to the General Forum which I promptly deleted. I feel this kind of info should be a perk of being a full member. Without further adieu, I present to you, my guide for SSH web surfing.
Here's the guide.
SSH Tunneling and You.
The following guide assumes you have some working knowledge of Linux.
Prerequisites include a working Linux server running SSH on your home broadband connection. Most flavors of Linux come with SSH installed as an option, this isn't a Linux tutorial so I'm not getting into it.
Now, on to the meat and potatoes.
SSH stands for "Secure Shell". Because of it's level of security, most organizations allow connections OUT from their firewalls on this port (22).
And that is great news for us.
So, you have a linux server on your home network which is running SSH. It's behind a firewall, (it IS behind a firewall isn't it?) you have the SSH port 22 port-forwarded to the server IP, you can accept connections externally to your server via SSH, your ready to take back your privacy!
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Ok, before we get into the instruction, lets first explain what it is we're doing.
SSH being a secure shell allows us to remotely connect to our home linux server. This is usually only used for remote server administration, checking e-mail via pine etc etc.
What we are going to do, is establish an SSH connection to our home server, and "tunnel" our local http requests through this connection.
This does a few very good things. It allows you to surf your favorite gaming websites without being blocked by firewalls with rules to prevent access to said sites.. (Websense, FW-1, etc)
Everything you do, every website you visit, all your chat, IM's whatever is encrypted. That means, noone can see what your doing. It's secure.
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Ok. First you need to download Putty. Putty is a SSH client that will do the communication to your home server. You can get it free here:
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
Once downloaded, unzip the file and execute.
You will be prompted with the following screen:
Highlight "Session" and on the right options panel enter your valid domain name (eg. myownserver.com) or WAN IP address of your home network (eg. 69.142.2.1) under "Hostname /IP address".
Next, from the left hand menu select "SSH" and then "Tunnels". First select the "Dynamic" radio button from the right and enter 3000 for the "Source Port" and click "Add".
Finally, click "Open".
You should be prompted with a dialog box that says something along the lines of "The server you are trying to contact requires a certificate for security purposes, Accept?" Just click yes to this option and you should be prompted with a login: prompt. Login using your root username and password.
We're done. Simply minimize the window. Do not close it. If it's closed, so is your SSH tunnel.
Sometimes this connection will timeout due to inactivity. If it does, just reconnect.
Now, open Firefox and go to your internet options. Click on connection settings and setup your options to look exactly like I have in the following example.
Save and restart Firefox.
Your surfing securely, and without a firewall.
This obviously has ALOT of uses. If your like me and value your privacy this can be used ANYWHERE. Hotels, WI-FI access points, onsite consultations where you don't want to use your clients corporate firewall, your college firewall (for gaming, MP3's) etc etc. Obviously, if your using this from a college campus, your either A) gonna need a linux server on your parents/friends broadband or B) a linux shell account that allows SSH.(most do and are WIDELY available on the net for free or nominal monthly fees).
Hope you all find this guide useful, and or helpful. I'll answer any questions you may have should you run into any issues. (If you have your own linux server, you should be able to do this LOL)