I know buying the computer you use for darknet activities without good precautions is risky because characteristics which can link back to you can be leaked from your apps or activity. Characteristics like CPU serial number. Does the same go for a router or phone (that you use for hotspot) that you then connect to for your activities. What characteristics of the router or phone itself can be leaked through your activity? and is it fine to buy them without the same precautions you would take for the actual computer? In this case the reason I am asking is I might put a router with a stronger OS between my computer and public wifi, so in this use case how cautious do i have to be when buying the router.
Everyone posting in this place should have a thorough understanding of the OSI model.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model
Then you would realize that nobody can "identify" you by a CPU serial number or a MAC address.
Nobody in the history of anyone doing anything illegal on the internet has ever been convicted of something because of the router they used. I 100% guarantee it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model
Then you would realize that nobody can "identify" you by a CPU serial number or a MAC address.
Nobody in the history of anyone doing anything illegal on the internet has ever been convicted of something because of the router they used. I 100% guarantee it.
Interesting, I will research the OSI model. But, I saw a user say that if not bought anonymously, the BOM can be written under your name which has the characteristics of the computer or router. Is this true and a reason to be more cautious?
no risk.youre not going to get identified by the router it will be some other mistake or slip up. if you want to be paranoid buy it secondhand used from a seller whose not specific about the model details
So, I understand that MAC addresses are part of the data link layer and not transmitted across the internet or anything like that. But if this guy is using a router to stand between his computer and public wifi, the MAC address of the router can absolutely be logged through like DHCP requests for example. If a forensics team goes through that data, and the router is using a genuine MAC address, they can absolutely issue a subpoena to find the buyer's identity.
Granted, if this guy is using Tor and not giving away any information that may reveal some personal details about him or his identity, and also is not subjected to some crazy de-anonymization attack, it (hopefully) shouldn't come to that in the first place.
Granted, if this guy is using Tor and not giving away any information that may reveal some personal details about him or his identity, and also is not subjected to some crazy de-anonymization attack, it (hopefully) shouldn't come to that in the first place.
The replies on this post is somewhat misleading.
Regarding routers connected via Ethernet and / or broadband fiber (SIM-routers are a different thing and not in the scope of my reply).
Your router is connecting to the ISP network and therefore the MAC number is exposed. Additionally the ISP also knows exactly which fiber is connected to your home. Potentially the router firmware also calls home to the manufacturer. Therefore MAC address spoofing of the router has limited anonymity and therefore buying anonymously has the same limitations on the anonymity. In any case, even if the anonymity is weak, it's still good practice to buy the router anonymously.
Moreover, if connecting your darknet tool set through this router you need to ensure that you use a bridge gateway with spoofed MAC-address that connects to the router and ensure that everything is transmitted through encrypted tunnels. If your bridge between darknet and the router fails to encapsulate the internals of your darknet tool set, it will be exposed to the router which can very well sample MAC-addresses and upload these to the manufacturer. Without a bridge, LE can potentially also get spyware installed into the router which then can monitor your darknet tool set traffic.
Therefore, only use routers with open source firmware and always use a bridge gateway (BSD with iptables on hardware you trust).
Regarding routers connected via Ethernet and / or broadband fiber (SIM-routers are a different thing and not in the scope of my reply).
Your router is connecting to the ISP network and therefore the MAC number is exposed. Additionally the ISP also knows exactly which fiber is connected to your home. Potentially the router firmware also calls home to the manufacturer. Therefore MAC address spoofing of the router has limited anonymity and therefore buying anonymously has the same limitations on the anonymity. In any case, even if the anonymity is weak, it's still good practice to buy the router anonymously.
Moreover, if connecting your darknet tool set through this router you need to ensure that you use a bridge gateway with spoofed MAC-address that connects to the router and ensure that everything is transmitted through encrypted tunnels. If your bridge between darknet and the router fails to encapsulate the internals of your darknet tool set, it will be exposed to the router which can very well sample MAC-addresses and upload these to the manufacturer. Without a bridge, LE can potentially also get spyware installed into the router which then can monitor your darknet tool set traffic.
Therefore, only use routers with open source firmware and always use a bridge gateway (BSD with iptables on hardware you trust).