Silk Road forums

Discussion => Security => Topic started by: PerPETualMOtion on June 16, 2013, 07:27 pm

Title: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: PerPETualMOtion on June 16, 2013, 07:27 pm
Be sure that your Bitcoin Wallet is routed through TOR for better security/anonymity.

Settings --> Options --> Network

(Check) Connect through SOCKS proxy:
Proxy IP: 127.0.0.1
Port: 9050
SOCKS Version: 4
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: SelfSovereignty on June 16, 2013, 07:42 pm
Is there an option for SOCKS4a?  If there is, you want that one, not SOCKS4.
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: PerPETualMOtion on June 16, 2013, 11:29 pm
Hmmm... there's a SOCKS4 and SOCKS5. Checking...
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: SelfSovereignty on June 16, 2013, 11:35 pm
Hmmm... there's a SOCKS4 and SOCKS5. Checking...

From Wikipedia: "SOCKS4a extends the SOCKS4 protocol to allow a client to specify a destination domain name rather than an IP address; this is useful when the client itself cannot resolve the destination host's domain name to an IP address."

It's just that the program itself does DNS lookups instead of passing "www.google.com" to the SOCKS proxy for resolution instead.  It probably doesn't matter for bitcoin-qt now that I really think about it, LOL... sorry, I was thinking of .onion URLs and not wanting to do IP resolution with your ISP for them   :-X
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: Jack N Hoff on June 16, 2013, 11:38 pm
I use SOCKS5 for everything I route through TOR :o Including my bitcoin client.
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: PerPETualMOtion on June 16, 2013, 11:43 pm
Thanks, Big Willy.
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: goblin on June 17, 2013, 12:08 pm
The latest bitcoin client (0.7.2.0) uses Socks 5 exclusively.
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: meatwad on June 17, 2013, 01:56 pm
Be sure that your Bitcoin Wallet is routed through TOR for better security/anonymity.

Settings --> Options --> Network

(Check) Connect through SOCKS proxy:
Proxy IP: 127.0.0.1
Port: 9050
SOCKS Version: 4

Is there anything else that needs to be done to configure BitcoinQT to use TOR?  Just configure BitcoinQT with the settings above and then have TOR running when I open bitcoinqt?
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: goblin on June 17, 2013, 02:24 pm
Be sure that your Bitcoin Wallet is routed through TOR for better security/anonymity.

Settings --> Options --> Network

(Check) Connect through SOCKS proxy:
Proxy IP: 127.0.0.1
Port: 9050
SOCKS Version: 4

Is there anything else that needs to be done to configure BitcoinQT to use TOR?  Just configure BitcoinQT with the settings above and then have TOR running when I open bitcoinqt?
As far as I know, yes. If tor is running and the bitcoin client is configured correctly (and the latest version is automatically done) it will route through tor. If tor stops, the bitcoin client almost instantly loses all connections with the network, which is a good test to do to see if you've done it right.
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: mollyexpress on June 17, 2013, 03:39 pm
For those of you on Macs, a really great program I use is Proxifier. It socksifies any application, even those that don't support SOCKS and sends it through your proxy which can then be sent over TOR. I use it for anything that I want to go over TOR that doesn't natively support SOCKS. Truly an awesome app.
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: Just Chipper on June 17, 2013, 03:48 pm
The latest bitcoin client (0.7.2.0) uses Socks 5 exclusively.

I'm sure it was a typo but I think you meant 0.8.2. If someone was still using 0.7.2 they might not get transaction confirmations as they made a major change to pruning the blockchain and banning all transactions under a certain limit to avoid BTC dust spam like Satoshi Dice produces.
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: goblin on June 17, 2013, 09:35 pm
The latest bitcoin client (0.7.2.0) uses Socks 5 exclusively.

I'm sure it was a typo but I think you meant 0.8.2. If someone was still using 0.7.2 they might not get transaction confirmations as they made a major change to pruning the blockchain and banning all transactions under a certain limit to avoid BTC dust spam like Satoshi Dice produces.
OK, you're right.
Title: Re: Bitcoin-qt through TOR (Socks 4)
Post by: PerPETualMOtion on June 19, 2013, 12:32 pm
Thanks for the great replies!