tor-webwml.git

@@ -1163,87 +1163,6 @@ implementation.

     </p>

     </li>

-    <a id="tailsServer"></a>

-    <li>

-    <b>Tails server: Self-hosted services behind Tails-powered Tor hidden services</b>

-    <br>

-    Likely Mentors: <i>anonym, George (asn)</i>

-    <p>Let's talk about group collaboration, communication and data sharing

-    infrastructure, such as chat servers, wikis, or file repositories.</p>

-    <p>Hosting such data and infrastructure <b>in the cloud</b> generally

-    implies to trust the service providers not to disclose content, usage or

-    users location information to third-parties. Hence, there are many threat

-    models in which cloud hosting is not suitable.</p>

-    <p>Tor partly answers the <b>users location</b> part; this is great, but

-    <b>content</b> is left unprotected.</p>

-    <p>There are two main ways to protect such content: either to encrypt it

-    client-side (<b>security by design</b>), or to avoid putting it into

-    untrusted hands in the first place.</p>

-    <p>Cloud solutions that offer security by design are rare and generally

-    not mature yet. The <b>Tails server</b> project is about exploring the

-    other side of the alternative: avoiding to put private data into

-    untrusted hands in the first place.</p>

-    <p>This is made possible thanks to Tor hidden services, that allow users

-    to offer location-hidden services, and make self-hosting possible in

-    many threat models. Self-hosting has its own lot of problems, however,

-    particularly in contexts where the physical security of the hosting

-    place is not assured. Combining Tor hidden services with Tails'

-    amnesia property and limited support for persistent encrypted data

-    allows to protect content, to a great degree, even in such contexts.</p>

-    <p>In short, setting up a new Tails server would be done by:</p>

-

-    <ol style="list-style-type: decimal">

-      <li>Alice plugs a USB stick into a running desktop Tails system.</li>

-      <li>Alice uses a GUI to easily configure the needed services.</li>

-      <li>Alice unplugs the USB stick, that now contains encrypted services

-      configuration and data storage space.</li>

-      <li>Alice plugs that USB stick (and possibly a Tails Live CD) into the

-      old laptop that was dedicated to run Tails server.</li>

-      <li>Once booted, Alice enters the encryption passphrase either

-      directly using the keyboard or through a web interface listening on the

-      local network.</li>

-      <li>Then, Bob can use the configured services once he gets a hold on

-      the hidden service address. (The <b>petname system for Tor hidden

-      services</b> project would be very complementary to this one, by the

-      way.)</li>

-    </ol>

-

-    <p>Tails server should content itself with hardware that is a bit old

-    (such as a PIII-450 laptop with 256MB of RAM) and/or half broken (e.g.

-    non-functional hard-disk, screen or keyboard).</p>

-    <p>The challenges behind this project are:</p>

-

-    <ul>

-      <li>Design and write the services configuration GUI [keywords: edit

-      configuration files, upgrade between major Debian versions,

-      debconf].</li>

-      <li>How to create the hidden service key? [keywords: Vidalia, control

-      protocol].</li>

-      <li>Adapt the Tails boot process to allow switching to &quot;server

-      mode&quot; when appropriate.</li>

-      <li>Add support, to the Tails persistence setup process, for asking an

-      encryption passphrase without X, and possibly with a broken keyboard

-      and/or screen [keywords: local network, SSL/TLS?, certificate?].</li>

-    </ul>

-

-    <p>This project can easily grow quite large, so the first task would

-    probably be to clarify what it would need to get an initial (minimal

-    but working) implementation ready to be shipped to users.</p>

-    <p>This project does not require to be an expert in one specific field,

-    but it requires to be experienced and at ease with a large scope of

-    software development tools, processes, and operating system knowledge.</p>

-    <p>Undertaking this project requires in-depth knowledge of Debian-like

-    systems (self-test: do the "dpkg conffile" and "debconf preseeding"

-    words sound new to your ear?); the Debian Live persistence system

-    being written in shell, being at ease with robust shell scripting is

-    a must; to end with, at least two pieces of software need to be

-    written from scratch (a GUI and a webapp): the preferred languages for

-    these tasks would be Python and Perl. Using Behaviour Driven

-    Development methods to convey expectations and acceptance criteria

-    would be most welcome.</p>

-    <p>For more information see https://tails.boum.org/todo/server_edition/</p>

-    </li>

-

     <a id="feedbackExtension"></a>

     <li>

     <b>Feedback Extension for Tor Browser</b>