Hello to all the readers, editors and followers of Desde Linux. This is my first article on this blog and it is something quite exciting, as I will finally contribute my first grain of sand to this wonderful community and all its knowledge hub.
Today I come to talk to you about Calyphrox Web Proxy, an official web application of my company Xenode Systems and how this tool can be useful to you in your daily web browsing.
Calyphrox is a online proxy that allows you to navigate in a way 100% anonymous and secure without leaving a trace through the web, that is its main function. Some of the most important use cases to list for this type of technology / application could be:
- When you want to access a blocked website at school or work
- When you want to access restricted content for your country / IP
- When you want to access potentially unsafe content
- When you simply want to keep your activities on the web anonymous
among others…
In fact, the reason why Calyphrox was born was because when I was halfway through high school back in 2008, the computer labs prevented us from accessing some recreational websites such as YouTube or the already forgotten one (and for many perhaps unknown xD) Hi5.
However, the utility of Calyphrox did not stop there: By providing the user with an IP different from yours (in this case, one from Google) and avoiding fingerprints.
Calyphrox has been throughout its history a useful tool in the fight for privacy and free access to information for many users around the world and now in its new version 6 just released we have decided to integrate (among other various novelties) support for access to domains ".Onion" (of the Deep Web) just like that.
This means that it is enough to enter calyphrox and write your domain .onion within your URL bar to start "diving" into the deep web without installing TOR or other similar software on your system.
Is Calyphrox Safe?
Of course. When browsing through Calyphrox your machine is never involved in the content requests you make to the web.
All the content that you require / ask for is requested by one of Calyphrox's servers and it shows it in a reflected way to you, so that no one can trace what you have requested / done during your navigation to you.
In case an attacker wants to trace your request, the last source endpoint The one you would run into would be the Calyphrox mirror server that has reflected the requested content to you (even assuming that said attacker reached this point before we emptied the content of the databases as is done periodically) but it would never be able to know from where the original request originated and therefore I would never know that you (or who specifically of the proxy users) opened that page or requested said content through our service.
This particularity applies to both requests for normal content (surface web) as for those to domains ".Onion" (Deep Web); In the latter, Calyphrox is in charge of requesting content through the TOR network and shows it to you reflected, making the browsing process even more obfuscated, already quite safe.
Speaking only of your skills for accessing the Deep Web, this approach is practically safer than, (for example) using the Tor Browser Bundle to access such content, since in that case no matter how secure the tor network is and how many relays use the information before reaching your machine (which in itself should have some extra protections on top in that case) at the end of the day your computer is always the last source endpoint from where the information request is generated, with calyphrox, the last source endpoint from where the requests are generated will always be one of its mirror servers and never your computer itself.
Deep Web? Oo
"Deep web, deep web" I have used the term a lot in this article. I will not delve into the topic of the "deep web" or darknet since much has been said about that over here in Desde Linux and several bloggers (including myself) have written on our respective sites / blogs our personal experiences and know-how on said topic. If you are not informed about What is the deep web, A good starting point are the links that I just put previously between these lines; They will provide you with solid knowledge on the subject.
What else does calyphrox offer me?
At its core, Calyphrox is just that. A webproxy both for the normal web (surface web) and for the deep web. However, it has a few extra features that you might like, such as:
- High availability (Smart mirroring)
- Responsive design for all kinds of screen sizes
- Official IP Widget for your website
- Official cross-platform apps (growing)
Plus other greats goodies… To review them all, I invite you to read the official release notes over here and well, if you are interested in using / knowing Calyphrox, do not forget to take a tour of the Official Site from the proxy in:
You have to have adblock (?) Disabled thank you very much and I will try it on several websites. :]
Yes, like any proxy, it grabs a lot of traffic and as it is not a content page, the only way to monetize it is the ads. Anyway we try to make them really relevant ads, it's not like we just put adsense there and that's it ... In fact, right now that they are using it, we are optimizing all those kinds of metrics for the well-being of all users 😉
Your intention is laudable, but you should know that TOR-BROWSER is a project of the FBI, together with the CIA and the NSA, they catch hacktivists who fall into their false anonymity. On the other hand, it is tremendously difficult to circumvent ECHEL0N, it is a system with artificial intelligence that intercepts the telecommunications of the entire planet for the benefit of the American / English establishment.
If you really want to open your eyes, come over here http://gutl.jovenclub.cu http://owasp.org/index.php/Discusión
http://informaniaticos.com/2012/12/nsa-el-gran-hermano-que-te-vigila-en.html
NOTE: To clarify, many will refute that TOR-BROWSER is safe, that it is from the EFF- electronic frontier foundation, it has implemented the digital currency BITC0IN, as a social experiment of the currency of the future, in short, they are not what we they paint.
Neither Ixquick or startpage, nor duckduckgo, nor epicsearch, nor metacrawler and other metasearch engines are private because they store preferences in the cloud, and the cloud by far is something that can be said "safe".
There was an old metasearch engine with artificial intelligence: open-site.org but they closed it and the last thing I have left is: Zapmeta.it zapmeta.fr zapmeta.nl or just http://zapmeta.com
regards
There it is, Now with Calyphrox you will no longer need the TOR Browser created by the FBI and the NSA 😉
Happy surfing!
Testing
Except for the annoying announcement, all good.
I couldn't use it. It takes me to a Google page that has my country blocked.
That's a shame! : / I had no idea what you are mentioning ... Yes, the proxy runs on a Google service called "Google App Engine" and unfortunately the ISP there is Google or one of its names for the servers from which the service runs. In that case, on this side we are with our hands tied since to use it you would have to use another proxy (Privoxy + TOR for example) which makes me a reverend stupidity ... (or at the programmatic level an «unnecessary recursion» haha) Mmmm the censorship there is no limit what sadness.
amm it sounds very very nice, but I would not dare to use it in my work, they are too suckers, and in one of those that if they manage to locate me hahaha bye sustenance 😛 hahaha
The proposal is interesting but you have to have several things to consider:
1. Is the information encrypted between my PC and the server? In case of being negative, what sense would it make to use it if I would lose the anonymity that the Deep Web offers me, since all my activity would be on the Calyphrox servers, that is, you could see what I do or not on the Deep Web and add a risk of discovering the activity that a person carries out in it. In case of being encrypted, you would have access to it, which would also remove the anonymity.
2. «Speaking only of your abilities to access the Deep Web, this approach is practically safer than, (for example) using the Tor Browser Bundle to access said content ...» This is not entirely true, said browser is It is based on a certain version of Firefox and it is still a simple browser configured to access DeepWeb, one would have the same risks if they enter through someone else. The FBI managed to find the location of some Deep Web users because they violated the website by injecting malicious Javascript code that exploited a vulnerability in the Tor Browser Bundle, which could have happened with any other browser.
I repeat, it is still interesting, but I would prefer to connect directly to the Deep Web to "guarantee" my anonymity. Cheers!!
Excellent comment, I answer:
Yes, the information that you pass through Calyphrox is encrypted in the "proxified pages" where it is allowed in the case of normal content. The main page of the proxy as such is not 100% encrypted in the sense that there are 2 external elements (1 css and 1 js) that still load by plain HTTP but in terms of navigation as such in the case of the web surface, All content that can be accessed in an encrypted manner is encrypted over HTTPS. on the other hand, the proxy retransforms the content with its own obfuscation and some specific things such as css and images are saved as "pure data" (without real meaning or use for a person) in a database on our platform. This entity within the DB is only valid until the content you required is shown to you and then ceases to exist. We do not have access to anything you browse or leave in the proxy. As an additional security measure, any lagged records (of transformed bytes) that have been saved in the DB are periodically erased completely. This is so because if this byte cleaning is not done (which although they are not useful for people, they do fill space on the HDD) the proxy would saturate.
So, in simple words, Yes, your browsing is encrypted in Calyphrox. and No, nobody has access to what you access through the proxy, ever.
As for the browser, precisely because of your example is that Calyphrox is more secure. While you are using Calyphrox, the only computer that is using the deep web in the eyes of anyone is the Calyphrox server. If the FBI or whoever were to violate anything to find the location of a specific user who accessed, the last thing they would give would be with the IP of the Calyphrox server and never with the user as such, since the content is never really downloaded to your machine directly when you use the proxy, but it stays in the proxy. In fact, if you see the JS (so to speak) of a page that you have accessed through calyphrox, the routes are not the original ones, but they are proxified. It is difficult to explain a practical example but in summary, that proxied JS that you access through calyphrox would have no way of revealing your location due to various issues of how a proxy works, among them the explained issue that in that case, you machine is not the last endpoint source of the information but the proxy as such.
Greetings, I am just writing to tell you that thanks to your concern, one of the improvements that we have just implemented to the proxy was HTTPS by default in the entire experience, since you enter its official website and while you browse. Your comment was valuable feedback for my company's app and I would like to thank you 🙂
PS Could you pass me your twitter? Good day.
completely agree.
This service, which seems perfectly legitimate to me, has an interest as a proxy, to bypass the filtering of your university if it does not let you watch porn, for example. But, privacy is much more than that. Calyphrox is by no means an anonymous browsing service (much less 100% as the title says).
In many parts of the world, privacy is SO important that you risk your life. Human rights defenders in China, the Middle East, Arab countries, various countries in Latin America, many countries in Africa etc, etc. They risk their lives using the internet to promote democracy or human and civil rights in their countries. It is not serious (or responsible) to tell you that a proxy guarantees your privacy. For that I would only recommend a VPN and / or TOR.
See that the same author says "Google controls and protects it in its server farms", putting Google as a guarantee of privacy (this is naive). When Google is on the enemy side of the province. The Google server collects all the requests for your IP (and as it is known, it files them and goes directly to the NSA databases) ergo, ZERO PRIVACY.
No, Google is not a "guarantee of privacy" do not manipulate my words ... The Google server is only a guarantee of AVAILABILITY (so that there is always a proxy, that it is not saturated so much etc) What is a guarantee of privacy is the method of proxified, where the calyphrox server represents your computer to the network when you browse with our proxy. Your computer is never involved. Regarding the issue of the deep web, calyphrox makes the connection through TOR for you and mirrors the content on its server, so that not only are you not involved, but you remain 100% anonymous thanks to the protection of TOR and the proxy, which is who comes out as "who accessed the content" instead of you, you don't even appear in the request.
Hey if I disable adblock… aren't "companies" supposed to be able to track me?
Good question, the answer is:
By deactivating adblock, on the proxy's home page you lose your anonymity a little from "google analytics". That is a necessary measure to be able to A) Monetize the proxy and B) know where the traffic comes from to improve certain aspects of the platform,
HOWEVER
In proxified pages deactivating Adblock has no relevance because A) The bar on the right side does not have an ad as such that does crawl and B) Even if it did, as you are browsing through the proxy, even without adblock you remain 100% anonymous thanks to the same proxy.
Just deactivate AdBlock and enjoy !!!
Excellent! a question, could it be used to access regionally blocked sites (USA -> Mex). I want to add the private Netflix channel on my Roku, but I don't have a VPN.
On AdSense, I think they should also use a filter for Ghostery.
About your question: The proxy right now still doesn't work as a VPN directly for things like Netflix. It's not that you can't, it's just that Netflix requires cookies and allowing them within proxified content can be a privacy risk. We are considering that specific feature for a future release.
As for Ghostery, I tried it right now in my chrome and the proxy, it does not block the ads, so I do not see as much problem as such for the user to have it. In fact, the filter that calyphrox has is independent of the type of adblocker and detects when some software hides the ads as such, since that is precisely what we want to avoid. Ghostery doesn't hide them, so no problem 🙂
Hello! I'm just writing to tell you that I already realized what you were saying about Ghostery (it has an anti-js filter) hahaha, solved! Your feedback is appreciated and it helped us improve our app 🙂
PS Could you pass me your twitter? Good day.
Very good, it would only improve if the advertising is placed on top of the web, the web div should end when the advertising div begins, otherwise access to the elements that are on the far right (on pages that they auto-dimension as google.com it is impossible to access the options on the right)
Thanks for spotting this problem! will be repaired shortly 😉
The problem has been solved in the new update, as you will see if you start using the proxy from now on ... Your feedback has been valuable to Calyphrox. Thanks a lot.
PS Could you pass me your twitter? Good day.
Excellent tool. I'm really excited about it and from right now it's going to my favorites list. To give you an idea, at the moment it is the only page on the entire internet where I have deactivated adblock. I hope you continue with this magnificent project and I will be attentive to the news that you are introducing (although giving access to the Tor network is something that, by itself, borders on the sublime). For now, something I would like to ask you is that you will make an article here or some other site explaining the architecture and configuration of the infrastructure that you have set up to make the page work. I think it would be very interesting and we would all appreciate it very much.
I also mention a problem that I have had testing the page to search in google. Searching for anything skips the capcha that google puts when it detects suspicious traffic. This usually appears when you are using a tool for automated use of google or when using combinations of dorks that are dangerous. In short, when google hacking is done. I don't know what the cause is or if you can fix it (it's probably google's fault). After filling in the capcha, a 404 error page pops up. I've also tried it with duckduckgo and had problems again. I don't know if the same will happen with other search engines. In any case, it is not too serious.
Finally, I congratulate you again for the great work you have done and I hope that this project goes well with you.
Long life and prosperity.
Thank you very much for your comment, you detected a super important bug. Right now we are collecting user feedback precisely to fix errors and this problem you mention will be fixed later in the day with a proxy search button 🙂
I'm so glad I was helpful. I hope you keep improving in the future and that you get the recognition you deserve.
Hello again:
The search problem has been solved in the new version of Calyphrox (you will notice it if you enter the page) with its own proxy search engine. Since your observation was useful to us in the development of this app, I would like to thank you 🙂
PS Could you pass me your twitter? Good day.
I find the project interesting, but I see two questions, philosophical-technical, that may concern:
1. privacy and private business to earn money do not get along. What about monetizing showing Adsense banners? !!! (from Google / NSA) in "safe" browsing ... sounds awful. In addition, as the Lavabit case demonstrated, the NSA is not fooling around, either you are directly a Trojan of ours (Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Google, etc.) or we sink your business (more direct threat of going to jail in the USES)
3. You yourself say: «Yes, the proxy runs on a Google service called“ Google App Engine ”and unfortunately the ISP there is Google or one of its name providers for the servers from which the service runs» !!!! ! Google as ISP for a secure browsing service is a contradiction in termini, as has been demonstrated in recent months with the whole Snowden / NSA affair.
You don't play with privacy. You have to bet on a public, anonymous website, end-to-end encrypted at a minimum PGP level. For now the best is TOR, and it should be a starting point for improvement.
if pgp level and everything, let's slow down the web and incidentally that only images can be seen: D, because the videos need to track you for copyright issues ahahahaha-
quite an "authoritative" comment on security and privacy on the net, made by someone who surfs with Internet Explorer and under Windows 8 🙂 greetings.
This is called an ad hominem argument. Congratulations. By the way, at least I hope you knew that ie is the safest browser under Windows and the one that always wins at hack festivals.
security and privacy in Windows is no longer a technological and political impossibility, I would say ontological. From the moment an OS code is proprietary and closed, your security and privacy is in the hands of Microsoft and the United States government. In other words, there is NO security and privacy in Windows, never, that human and civil right is transferred to a multinational and a government. This is no longer doubted by anyone in the GNU / Linux community, from Stallman and Torvalds, to the most naive of ubunters. I respect the use of Windows, but you just have to be aware of the rights that are waived. A Linux user is always a citizen, never a subject, and we do not waive or waive civil rights.
When it comes to anonymity and privacy, security goes beyond third-party access.
It is proven (although there are still those who prefer to say that they are paranoid things) that MS allowed and even supported the delivery of personal data.
So to say that ie, it is the most secure browser under windows (as if it ran natively in something else) is out of proportion.
Privacy and security are not the same, security is the ability to resist malware attacks from the web, privacy is something else. And since I navigate with my gmail account logged in, with my Outlook account open, Skype open, hangout open etc, everything you comment on privacy seems stupid, if I wanted privacy I would not use the internet.
In computing, the concept of security has its edges of privacy and anonymity.
Basic concepts of this, authentication, access control, integrity of information, availability of information, confidentiality of information.
Not everything is malware (eg social engineering, which does not require hardware or software).
And yes, of course, you are not interested in privacy, and all those services are sure that you use them without a password, and in cases where the program requires it, you use it, but you publish it on Facebook, of course.
what you said makes no sense, why would I post the password on Facebook? Furthermore, none of these services can be used without a password. One thing is not worrying about privacy and another thing is that you are a "jerk". Still I have nothing to hide, if one day my account was hacked, they would only see stupid emails from gmail or bookmakers. The important things of the PP are in another account that is not mine.
It is not contradictory, because this is a proxy. and as a proxy any computer (especially one from Google) works perfectly well. When using Calyphrox, nothing the end user does is really "in play" or "available" because the data is not saved in the application to begin with. In case someone tracked your activity while you were using the proxy, they would always find Google's computer (and never yours) when reaching the deepest endpoint at the origin of the request. As I said in the article, your computer is never involved.
It's that simple, if you want to understand it easier:
What you do or don't do through Calyphrox does not exist in an identifiable way on the web. Everything is blamed on the scapegoat that is the proxy server, nobody ever knows of your existence in a certain request because by using calyphrox you are using another computer instead of yours.
I also see that:
1. the connection between my IP and http://calyphroxy.appspot.com/ It is not even HTTPS, that is, it is not even minimally encrypted. Open and filterable traffic in an obvious way, that is, all the requests between my IP and calyphroxy.appspot.com are catchable.
2. doing a whois to calyphroxy.appspot.com http://whois.domaintools.com/appspot.com We can see that the IP is in California (bad place for a secure server) and also, the domain belongs to GOOGLE:
Registrant Organization: Google Inc.
Registrant Street: 2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy
Registrant City: Mountain View
Registrant State / Province: CA
Registrant Postal Code: 94043
Registrant Country: US
All this does not give great peace of mind to those who truly want anonymous browsing.
Excellent appreciation, those were my concerns in a previous comment. If at some point someone is going to connect to the TOR network, it is because they need privacy. Why would one connect through a third party to TOR? All that would do is add unnecessary risk to my privacy.
I find the idea interesting as a web proxy, but I don't think it is convenient as an access point to TOR for the sake of privacy.
Hello! Very interesting all the discussion about computer security and others, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to this:
It's not about who does the hosting, or who the ISP is or where the service runs, at the end of the day Calyphrox is still secure by the concept of proxified. All of the "vulnerabilities" and concerns expressed in your comments above are of concern only to the proxy server, your computer is never at risk. Browsing through a proxy could be compared to being behind a public NAT.
In summary, everything that could be "violated, exploited" or any other term you want to use, does not pose a direct risk to any of the users, much less to their computers since the only one at risk here is the server of the proxy, which we do not have direct access to (Google controls and protects it in its server farms). In any case, if someone exploited those "problems" you mention, they would never be able to find any user's data because (to begin with), it is not even saved in the application.
Browsing through Calyphrox is then (if you want to see it like this) a way to have the peace of mind of using the internet "on behalf of another computer" and never yours, so that if someone manages to hack it or do something to it, the greatest risk What you face as an end user (at the privacy level or whatever) is to lose the connection with the proxy and continue with your normal life.
Very interesting. Just comment as a "bug" that the ad is removed as fast as blocking the page's javascript with NoScript.
Thanks for mentioning it 😉
Fixed in an update within the version that is online right now, again thanks for the observation, it has been helpful 😉
PS Could you pass me your twitter? Good day.
Tuiqué? And what is that? I am an internet hermit 🙂
You just need to create an ADDON to have it in the firefox and / or chromium bar.
regards
It is in future plans 😉
I knew about this service and I can tell you that I am not sure ... I encourage you to use other solutions instead of this one.
Did you have a bad experience in the past? or you say it just to troll (because your comment is not even well written) I ask because if you say it with reason then I would like to know about your problem to avoid what has caused you "insecurity" in the past with this new version.
it's freebsdick xdd, it's always trolling, it's like that XD
Can my company still track the application?
In a network with top notch security and tracking control, your company can see that you accessed Calyphrox and that's it. What you do after you hit the "go" button after entering your URL in the proxy navigation bar is not identifiable as your requests.
At the end of the day, the greatest danger of "getting caught" lies in human error (that you have a blocked page open while the floor supervisor does the round for example and they realize it)
hahaha, greetings.
I cannot download Calyphrox from its official website, Kaspersky Internet Security says it is a fraudulent URL and blocks the download. For what is this??
Maybe because ... It doesn't download? hahahaha it is not a "program" it is a web application, who knows what you are downloading but it is not calyphrox, because it is not downloaded as such, just enter the web that appears above in the post to use it.
Well I say that enough of guevonadas !!! ... and anonymous browsing stories since not even rebounds in replicas of various servers worldwide could you hide on the Internet at one time or another they fish you like that without more, therefore that only A server can make them not see the public IP of your place of physical origin for saying it or the real address in which you are with your PC is easier to overcome and as the friend there said, you or your server owner if you have access to the navigation info of the users and it can be encrypted and whatever you want but you as Admin if you can access and manipulate that as you want I have several Servers and it is just like that one for Ethics at least in my cases I do not do it except order judicial by means of a user.
For now, stop dreaming that nothing escapes the Internet, everything is always there and surely at some point you access it and you know where it came from. Moreover, the simple Chrome browsers of Google, Firefox, and many others all leave a record to the creators of the key visited places and much more and what is more, all this is already done by a simple website without going any further than this blog gives the data among others of the explorer used and the operating system, therefore do not say that this is browsing without anyone knowing hahahahaha GREETINGS !!!!! …… for this you have to replicate on many servers and not use your own Internet networks Byeeee….
Calyphrox is not on a common dedicated server, it is an instance of Google App Engine, we have zero access to user information. On the other hand, for Deep Web issues, replication techniques such as the ones you mention are used, through the tor network by default and as for normal browsing, the proxy has multiple replicating mirrors that are activated when necessary.
100% anonymous and secure? aha especially because it doesn't let you use it if you have a js or adblock block….
That has nothing to do with proxy privacy or security on proxied pages. Also, if you are concerned about someone "tracking" you on the home page, you can always use a "Do not track" without having to remove the ads.
IT IS REALLY A TRUE PLEASURE TO FIND A PERSON WHO DOES THINK MORE THAN THEY ONLY THINK ABOUT PROFIT, BUT YOU ARE THE EXCEPTION, THAT IS TO THINK BIG IS TO HAVE A VERY DEVELOPED MEGA CONSCIENCE FOR THEIR TIME.
I REALLY CONGRATULATE YOU FOR GIVING AND SHARING SOMETHING THAT REALLY IS A BENEFIT FOR ALL RATIONAL AND CONSCIOUS PEOPLE AND IT IS INFORMATION, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.
Sorry and how would we generate an Application for the deep web
Thank you very much for sharing this powerful tool with all of us. I wish you the best ...
I see that the page no longer exists, because I tried to connect and this page is not available.
I have some questions and many times in the common network this is already eliminated or it is simply not disclosed. My purpose is to know the truth or at least to explain it to me.
How do I download it? it works for windows ??
how does it work noscript matter eg google. Can you block these addons, everything is java flash frames, etc?
Manuel, step by step to enter DW please, I am brand new in this, can you?
Dear friend, I find your work very interesting. I live in the province of Tucuman, Argentina and I would like to know if I can use it with windows 7. I use the internet from a neighboring server that provides me with cable. This owner who charges me a monthly subscription receives Internet by air from the province of Córdoba and when he reaches his home antenna he sells the service by cable. It is a bit slow but it works. From his home he has approximately 12 subscribers that he sells to him from his cable server. Modify into something that Calyphrox uses? What is the deep web? How should I connect to use it? Since now, I thank the answer. If it is not too much to ask my email
Hello, I just want to know if it has any cost and I can deactivate it when I leave work. Thank you, I hope you can answer me.
Thank you very much for your contribution Manuel, I have a question about Calyphrox that I would like you to answer me: when I enter a blogger's blogspot, will I appear in the visit counter of the author of said blog if I use Calyphrox? Thank you.