I have read a blog post, where you can build your own privacy proxy server built on Raspberry PI. The post got me thinking about how I can use this to protect my privacy on my Android phone, and also get rid of those annoying ads.
Since I own a Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE with Android 4.3 (with a HW based Knox counter), rooting the phone now means you break Knox, and loose warranty. Past the point of no return ...
This means I have to solve this without root. Luckily newer Androids support VPN without rooting, but setting a mandatory system-wide proxy is still not possible without root.
But thanks to some iptables magic and Privoxy, this is not a problem anymore :)
The ingredients to build your own privacy protection proxy:
- One (or more) cheap VPS server(s)
- a decent VPN program
- Privoxy
- iptables
VPS server
To get the cheap VPS server, I recommend using Amazon EC2, but choose whatever you like. The micro instance is very cheap (or even free), and has totally enough resources for this task. I'm using the Ubuntu free tier now and it works like a charm. And last but not least Amazon has two-factor authentication! You can set up an Ubuntu server under 10 minutes. Use the AWS region nearest to you, e.g. I choose EU - Ireland.
VPN
For the VPN program, I recommend the free version of the OpenVPN AS (EDIT: be sure to use OpenVPN AS 2.0.6 or later, both on the server and the client). Easy to set-up quick start guide is here, GUI based configuration, and one-click client installer for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, OSX. The Ubuntu installer packages are here.
The most important settings:
- I prefer to use the TCP 443 and UDP 53 ports for my OpenVPN setup, and let the user guess why.
- For good performance, UDP is preferred over TCP.
- VPN mode is Layer 3 (routing/NAT).
- Don't forget to allow the configured VPN ports in the AWS firewall (security groups).
Other VPN settings:
- Should VPN clients have access to private subnets (non-public networks on the server side)? - Yes
- Should client Internet traffic be routed through the VPN? - Yes
Privoxy
The next component we have to install and configure is Privoxy. As usual, "apt-get install privoxy" just works. The next step is to configure privoxy via /etc/privoxy/config file, there are two options to change:- listen-address your.ip.add.ress:8118
- accept-intercepted-requests 1
Beware not to allow everyone accessing your Privoxy server in the AWS EC2 security groups, be sure it is reachable only to VPN users!
After everything is set, start privoxy with "service privoxy start", and add it to the autostart "update-rc.d privoxy defaults".
After everything is set, start privoxy with "service privoxy start", and add it to the autostart "update-rc.d privoxy defaults".
Iptables
And the final step is to configure your iptables chain to forward every web traffic from the VPN clients to the Privoxy server:
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -s 5.5.0.0/16 -p tcp -m multiport --dports 80,8080,81 -j DNAT --to-destination your.ip.add.ress:8118
Optionally you can block access to all other ports as well, and what does not go through your Privoxy won't be reachable.
Based on your Linux distribution and preference, you might make this rule persistent.
Final test
Now you can connect to the VPN server from your Android device.
After connecting, the final results can be seen in the following screenshots. And yes, there is a reason I chose Angry Birds as an example.
After logging in from a client, you get the following nice packages to install on your device:
 |
| Angry Birds without Privoxy |
 |
| Angry Birds with Privoxy |
 |
| Stupid flashlight app with ad |
 |
| Stupid flashlight app with Privoxy |
Spoiler alert
If you are afraid of NSA tracking you, this post is not for you. If you want to achieve IP layer anonymity, this post is not for you. As long as you are the only one using that service, it should be trivial to see what could possibly go wrong with that.
Known issues
Whenever the Internet connection (Wifi, 3G) drops, the VPN connection drops as well, and your privacy is gone ...
Sites breaking your privacy through SSL can still do that as long as the domain is not in the Privoxy blacklist.
Additional recommendation
If you are using OSX or Windows, I can recommend Aviator to be used as your default browser. It is just great, give it a try!
PS: There are also some adblock apps removed from the official store which can block some ads, but you have to configure a proxy for every WiFi connection you use, and it is not working over 3G.
More articles
- Hacking Tools Windows 10
- Underground Hacker Sites
- Hackrf Tools
- Hacking Tools For Beginners
- Hacker Tools Github
- Pentest Tools Open Source
- Pentest Tools Github
- Hacker Tools Software
- Hacking Tools
- Hacking Tools For Windows Free Download
- Hacking Tools For Kali Linux
- Hacking Tools Download
- Pentest Tools Open Source
- Game Hacking
- Bluetooth Hacking Tools Kali
- Ethical Hacker Tools
- Pentest Tools Nmap
- Wifi Hacker Tools For Windows
- Hackrf Tools
- Hacking Tools Software
- Hacker Tools Hardware
- Hacker Tools Free
- Hack Tools For Games
- Hack Tools
- Hacking Tools For Mac
- Hacking Tools Windows
- Hacker Tools For Ios
- Hacker Tools Linux
- Hacking Tools For Games
- Termux Hacking Tools 2019
- How To Make Hacking Tools
- Hacking Tools Name
- Hacker Tools For Pc
- Pentest Tools Alternative
- Hacker Tools For Windows
- Hack Website Online Tool
- Hacking Tools Windows 10
- Pentest Tools Tcp Port Scanner
- Pentest Tools Apk
- Pentest Tools Tcp Port Scanner
- Usb Pentest Tools
- Hacker Tools Apk
- New Hack Tools
- Hacking Tools And Software
- Tools 4 Hack
- Hackers Toolbox
- Hack Tools For Ubuntu
- Hack Tools Pc
- What Are Hacking Tools
- Computer Hacker
- Hack Apps
- Hacker Tool Kit
- Game Hacking
- Hacking Tools Windows 10
- Hacking Apps
- Tools Used For Hacking
- Hack Tools Download
- Hack Rom Tools
- What Is Hacking Tools
- Hacking App
- Hacker Tools For Mac
- Hacker Techniques Tools And Incident Handling
- Hacking Tools For Windows
- Github Hacking Tools
- Hack And Tools
- Pentest Tools Port Scanner
- Hack Apps
- Pentest Tools Website
- Top Pentest Tools
- Hack Apps
- Hacking Apps
- Hack Tools 2019
- Hacks And Tools
- Pentest Tools Linux
- Black Hat Hacker Tools
- Nsa Hack Tools Download
- Beginner Hacker Tools
- Hacking Tools For Pc
- Hacking Tools Software
- Hacking Tools Software
- Pentest Tools Port Scanner
- Pentest Tools Review
- Hacking Tools And Software
- Tools 4 Hack
- Pentest Tools For Ubuntu
- Pentest Reporting Tools
- Hacker Tools Github
- Hacking Tools For Windows 7
- Ethical Hacker Tools
- Hacking Tools Online
- Hacking Tools For Games
- New Hacker Tools
- Pentest Tools Kali Linux
- Wifi Hacker Tools For Windows
- Hacker Hardware Tools
- Hacking Tools And Software
- Hacking Tools For Pc
- Free Pentest Tools For Windows
- World No 1 Hacker Software
- Pentest Tools Android
- Growth Hacker Tools
- Pentest Tools Alternative
- Pentest Tools Github
- Beginner Hacker Tools
- Hacker Security Tools
- Hacking Tools Download
- Hak5 Tools
- Hackrf Tools
- Pentest Tools Android
- Hacker Tools For Mac
- Hack Tools Online
- What Are Hacking Tools
- Nsa Hack Tools Download
- Pentest Tools Bluekeep
- Nsa Hacker Tools
- Hacking Tools Windows 10
- Pentest Tools Tcp Port Scanner
- Free Pentest Tools For Windows
- Bluetooth Hacking Tools Kali
- Usb Pentest Tools
- Hack Tools Pc
- Tools Used For Hacking
- Hack Tools
- Hacking Tools For Windows 7
- Hacker Tools Mac
- Pentest Tools Url Fuzzer
- Hacking Tools Pc
- How To Make Hacking Tools
- Termux Hacking Tools 2019
- Hacker Tools For Mac
- Hacking Tools And Software
- Pentest Tools Linux
- Computer Hacker
- Hacking Tools Kit
- Pentest Recon Tools
- Kik Hack Tools
- What Are Hacking Tools
- Hacker Techniques Tools And Incident Handling
- Hack Tools Online
- Hacking Tools Software
- Hacker Search Tools
- Hacker Tools For Pc
- Hacking Tools And Software
- What Is Hacking Tools
