Problem :
cjb.net offers anonymous surfing through SSH. I connect via PuTTY. However, I typically know on which port my proxy service (squid, polipo, etc) is running. I think I need this port to configure the PuTTY tunnel, but I don’t know how to find it.
Or is there a more generic way to tunnel my HTTP traffic (via PuTTY) through this SSH connection?
Thanks in advance!
Solution :
Perhaps you’re supposed to use the SOCKS proxy capability of SSH? Read the man page and look for the “-D” option. What happens is that SSH binds to a local port (much like port forwarding), you configure your browser to use SOCKS on that port, and SSH forwards through the SSH connection directly to the web sites you visit.
See here for details.
EDIT: If it’s anonymity you’re after, mind your DNS leakage (which is addressed in the last post on that link) and JavaScript leakage. There are lots of ways your anonymity can be compromised, even with a proxy. In other words, unless you really know what you’re doing, don’t trust a simple proxy for anything really important.
http://souptonuts.sourceforge.net/sshtips.htm
http://www.ssh.com/support/documentation/online/ssh/winhelp/32/Tunneling_Explained.html
You need to change some configuration, but it works quite well as a proxy.