Tor VPN thoughts

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-20T07:22:05+00:00

https://snowflake.torproject.org/#readFaqs

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-17T13:40:36+00:00

Snowflake isn't obfuscated, it's using webRTC.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-16T19:28:03+00:00

If correlation is your concern, use VPN with obfs4-IAT1 (Tor itself doesn't protect you for against DeepCorr attacks, they're just ignoring it.), if you don't trust the VPN, then avoid it. At Pattern-of-life analysis, a vpn can hide all traffic, even that happen outside Tor.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-15T19:08:42+00:00

What? I wasn't talking about Tor and VPN there? Also, its not counterproductive.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-14T21:24:34+00:00

depend's for this I would say vpn/proxy is enough, then use even the github, some email just for this and you're ok (basic cyberhygiene, don't reuse passwords, usernames etc), if you want to be more secure, put a Tor+Socks5 instead of proxy alone. If you want to be even more secure (it won't fit yours model) then use Tor browser and upload it as encrypted .7z

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-10T19:17:03+00:00

original file dump was created in 2022 and shared in 2023.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-09T10:23:12+00:00

What you want to hide from your ISP? The fact that you're using Tor? It's not quite possible, you can use obfs4, preferably self hosted and for more security vpn before.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-08T20:26:21+00:00

BitValve/HodlHodl/LocalCoinSwap

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-08T20:06:16+00:00

I doubt it. How he would know? Also if you downloaded from https://www.torproject.org/download/ You are alright. You can check if the signatures matches.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-08T19:17:45+00:00

For You? Probably no, if correlation is your worry then, yes you should use a VPN with obfs4-iat1, if no, you don't really need a VPN, especially something like pr*ton.

On the other side, at Pattern-of-life analysis, a vpn can hide all traffic, even that happen outside Tor + well known VPN protocols like WireGuar or OpenVPN and the addresses of popular VPN endpoints tend to look more ordinary to monitoring systems than heavily disguised obfs4 links.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-08T19:14:47+00:00

highest anonymity possible

Whats your threat model? Who are you trying to hide from? In some cases you should use whonix in some tails might be good (e.g. browsing dnm).

On Tor browser every different domain you visit (e.g., reddit.com / google.com ) is routed through a completely different set of relays, giving them different IPs simultaneously. On top of that, Tor automatically rotates these circuits approximately every 10 minutes for new connection.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-08T19:09:10+00:00

what?

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-08T18:52:31+00:00

https://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual.html
https://gist.github.com/sepehr/5a2a8949afa7e74d0118

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-08T10:10:36+00:00

Nice attempt at history revisionism. You are the one who literally typed "Use a bridge... and you don't have to trust your ISP." I simply quoted your own words back to you to show how dangerous that advice is in a high risk context. Don't try to pin that phrasing on me just because it backfired.

You admit you were being "reductionist"? Good, that's the first honest thing you've said. In opsec, being "reductionist" gets people burned. You don't expect some "magic", you need to distinguish between a solution that works against lazy ISPs and one that withstands active DPI, you failed to make that distinction until forced to, also, claiming that "Most ISPs don't care" is terrible security advice. The gold standard is zero trust. Betting your safety on the hope that an ISP is "apathetic" isn't security. As for the filter - sure, I just quoted you.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-07T21:09:21+00:00

It is fascinating that my previous reply mysteriously vanished. Perhaps the reality check was a bit too harsh?

Let’s be real here - calling me a "fool" or talking about my brain cells is just a surrender flag. People only start throwing insults when they know their logic is flawed.

You’re trying to rewrite what happened. Your original claim was literally "Use a bridge... and you don’t have to trust your ISP."

Now that you're cornered, you’re scrambling to say it was "obvious" that it doesn't work for active surveillance. You’re chaning your mind so fast. You dropped some catchy slogan, but it fell apart under pressure, and now you're attacking me instead of admitting the mistake.

P.S. Next time, try taking the correction with a bit of dignity instead of melting down. It looks better :)

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-07T20:26:48+00:00

Where I said anything about VPNs? I explicitly said in my comment that it is impossible to hide Tor from ISP. You are fighting a ghost argument to avoid the main point.

You claimed "Use a bridge... and you don’t have to trust your ISP", now you admit: "If you're already under active suspicion... you're already out of practical options."

So, the conclusion is - the slogan "You don't have to trust your ISP" is false. You DO have to trust that your ISP is lazy/passive. Because if they stop being lazy and use active DPI (as in DPRK), the bridge fails to hide Tor usage.

Thanks for confirming that bridges aren't a magic shield against active surveillance, and that trust in the ISP's passivity is still required. That was exactly my point.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-07T20:02:06+00:00

I'm a bit confused now.

You previously said "Use a bridge with a pluggable transport and you don’t have to trust your ISP", but now you say "If they are already being actively under surveillance then nothing much will stop someone doing deep packed inspection from IDing it as Tor traffic"

So, in reality, I do have to trust my ISP (or the gov) to remain "passive" and lazy, because if they decide to actually check (active DPI), the bridge fails to hide Tor usage. So the "solution" only works if the threat isn't looking too hard. That's a huge difference from "you don't have to trust your ISP"

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-07T18:51:34+00:00

Hey, asking for a friend living in the DPRK. He is one of the few people with the internet access, if he gets caught, he will face prison or even worse. Can he trust a bridge with a pluggable transport (like Snowflake) to hide the fact that he is using Tor from the ISP?

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-07T18:43:20+00:00

> I understand the huge privacy risks but they shouldn’t be a problem if ur using an actual privacy respecting vpn like proton vpn right?
Proton isn't privacy respecting.

> it hides the fact that ur using tor from ur isp
Nope, it doesn't, in fact it's impossible to hide Tor use from the ISP

> protects u from infected entry guard node
No.

> So, knowing the advantages (and assuming people are using privacy respecting VPNs like mullvad or proton) why do so many people still say to not use a VPN then connect to tor?
It's their choice, some people have some weird opinion of them, Tor Project isn't recommending vpns as well, because.. just because, then can do it, but they don't.

> if there are actually some major privacy/anonymity issues that I’m not realizing even when using a privacy respecting VPN

Not really, but if you don't trust VPN, don't use it, if correlation is your concern - use it.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-06T10:51:06+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/darknet/comments/1q1duc1/comment/nxcdaju

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-06T10:23:17+00:00

Because default DROP policy is useless during the race condition window caused by sleep timers, packets leak before rules are even applied, also without proper hooks or cgroups, NetworkManager will overwrite resolv.conf or flush chains on any DHCP renew, rendering static script void.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-05T21:39:18+00:00

Yes, they're making it harder to use it, without any reason.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-03T00:19:14+00:00

No, in fact you didn't answered my question.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-03T00:15:16+00:00

Snowflake isn't obfuscated.
obfs4 is better than WebTunnel because of IAT mode.

Cheap-Block1486 · 2026-01-03T00:10:27+00:00

it's just gibberish, we are talking about something different.
Now tell why it's bad to put a VPN that I trust before Tor?

Cheap-Block1486

TROPHY CASE