

Show HN: Lahana – my VPN to Tor gateway script for EC2 Free-tier users - iuguy
http://lahana.dreamcats.org/

======
iuguy
Some of you may have read or taken part in the discussion about what's going
on in Turkey right now. This is my side project to help people build VPNs
using Tor with the free tier. I hope it's helpful not just to Turks but to
other people. I could really do with help setting up connectivity guides and
also with people translating guides into Turkish, Kurdish and any other
regional languages used by people in affected areas.

Any help you can offer would be gratefully appreciated.

~~~
jtome
Why not just setup tor bridges/relays? Is the advantage of this that it can be
easily used with an iPhone? It seems like this is rather unsafe since the
Turkish government can just set up lahana nodes, sniff the traffic before it
goes to tor, while knowing who exactly is sending it.

~~~
iuguy
It's not perfect, it's meant to be easily shareable which precludes using
certificates.

Lahana nodes don't talk to each other and people _should_ set stronger
passwords and secrets (although I think I'll set a more secure default).

Part of the advantage is that this will work with pretty much any VPN client
and doesn't need Tor installing locally. It's also incredibly easy for an end
user to connect to. The problem at the moment isn't that people are being
identified in Turkey, the problem is that some people are seeing things
blocked. This has actually gone on for a while with stupid things like Youtube
being blocked.

Lahana doesn't give you secrecy, it just (in theory) makes it harder to track
back from the far end (by using tor), provides direct access to tor without
needing to install anything and (hopefully) lets you bypass filtering.

I would not recommend Lahana for anyone where being identified could cause
serious harm. But I do welcome any ideas/help on trying to make Lahana better.

~~~
jtome
AFAIK with the exception of iOS devices, using the Tor Browser Bundle is just
as easy, if not more so than installing a vpn client. I realize that Tor can't
be used on iOS without jailbreaking it, and that iOS comes with a vpn client,
but for PCs Tor doesn't even require an install to use, while a vpn client
does, and for android it only requires installation of two apps. While your
effort is commendable, seems well intentioned, and is more than anything I
have ever done, it just seems like this is a dangerous step down from the
recommended use of TOR.

~~~
mannkind
"I realize that Tor can't be used on iOS without jailbreaking it"

Not quite true.

While Tor can't be used for _all_ traffic, there are Tor apps -- OnionBrowser
works quite well; I just tried it.

~~~
jtome
Good point, although based on my experience using onionbrowser on an iphone
over a year ago, id say lahana or jabreaking seem to be better choices for
someone wanting to use facebook, twitter, or youtube, since using any of these
on a mobile phone browser can be hell without tor.

------
iuguy
If you want to try connecting to a Lahana server without setting up your own
node, try this:

Username: bob

Password: bob

Secret: whoop

Hostname: ec2-50-19-10-247.compute-1.amazonaws.com

There's a guide for iOS users[1], I haven't got round to posting a guide for
Windows and Mac OSX yet.

[1] - <http://lahana.dreamcats.org/ios-howto/>

------
iuguy
If you create a Lahana node, please post the details in the Lahananodes
subreddit[1] so others can use it. It's a bit late in the evening in Turkey
but I'm trying to get some nodes up for when people come online in the
morning. If you can run a node, please do!

[1] - <http://www.reddit.com/r/lahananodes/>

------
jtome
Sorry, maybe you can explain this to me, but I don't understand what advantage
does this has over Tor Bridges?

~~~
iuguy
The purpose of Lahana is to provide a free method of bypassing filtering that
almost anyone can implement and anyone can use. It's not meant to provide
secrecy, it just gets you past the first hurdle of the filter and gives you
tor as an option for a destination.

The reason for using tor is to make it so the source is not directly
identifiable to surveillance tools unless the user uses the connection
insecurely (e.g. runs bittorrent or has browser leaks). There is the added
bonus of being able to access tor without having to install anything on your
device.

Tor bridges are fantastic, but for people on mobile devices that don't run
android or aren't jailbroken this isn't an option. Lahana opens this up to
people running unjailbroken iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone.

