How do you protect / anonymize yourselves on IRC? reddit / irc ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MD5HashBrowns · 2016-08-21 18:15 Ive recently started to use IRC, and I'm curious how people protect themselves from users getting their IP address and DDoSing or worse. It seems like freenode has discontinued TOR support and free proxies always die. Cloaks from freenode seemed like a good idea until I read someone can just do a /whois on you to get your IP. So, how do you all protect yourselves on IRC? Cheers, MD5HashBrowns ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MuffinMedic · 2016-08-21 18:22 Use a VPN. freenode has partnered up with [privateinternetaccess](http s://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/buy-vpn/freend/). Alternatively, you can get a VPS and run your own ZNC bouncer, which will keep you connected 24/7. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MD5HashBrowns · 2016-08-21 18:35 Cool ill buy a vpn, Ive never heard of a ZNC bouncer so Ill look into that, thx ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MuffinMedic · 2016-08-21 18:36 Usually you only need one or the other - If you use a bouncer, your IP on IRC is that of the bouncer, not your computer/phone/etc... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- stwalkerster · 2016-08-21 19:06 Freenode also supports vhosts (or cloaks) which take the place of the hostname field, which will hide your IP address to most users on the network in most circumstances. The key exceptions are when you use web IRC clients (those often encode your IP into a hex string and put it in the username field), or network staff. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MD5HashBrowns · 2016-08-21 19:29 Yeah I heard about this but it seems pretty pointless if somebody can just run a /whois on you and get your ip :/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derpherp128 · 2016-08-21 20:02 not how it works, only network staff can get your IP. if anyone else runs /whois, they just see unaffiliated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- stwalkerster · 2016-08-21 20:06 No, they can't. The whois returns a specific set of data, which looks something like this: > * [MyNickname] (username@unaffiliated/mynickservaccount): The client RealName field > * [MyNickname] #channel1 +#channel2 @#channel3 > * [MyNickname] sinisalo.freenode.net :SE > * [MyNickname] is using a secure connection > * [MyNickname] idle 00:01:00, signon: Sun Aug 21 18:56:08 > * [MyNickname] is logged in as MyNickservAccount > * [MyNickname] End of WHOIS list. The cloak ("unaffiliated/mynickservaccount") hides the hostname/IP field - unless you are /whoising yourself, or you are network staff, your IP address is completely hidden (on freenode at least, other networks may vary). In those cases, you get an extra line: > * [MyNickname] is connecting from *@hostname.example.com 192.0.2.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MD5HashBrowns · 2016-08-21 20:30 Oh wow I guess I heard wrong, I'll ask freenode for a cloak then, thanks :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2016-08-25 00:52 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MuffinMedic · 2016-08-25 00:53 Contrary to what /u/stwalkerster said, cloaks do NOT hide your IP - they may cloak it in your WHOIS reply, but there are still other ways of obtaining this information and you should not rely solely on cloaks for privacy. A bouncer or VPN are the best ways to protect yourself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- stwalkerster · 2016-08-25 12:27 /u/MuffinMedic , care to enlighten me how, as a non-oper user, it's possible to get an IP address of a user? The exceptions I know about are: * Network staff * Web clients * Not identifying to services * DCC (which IIRC is disabled by default in most clients I've used) If you use a web client, you've got the web server admins to care about as well. If you're trying to hide from network staff, then I question intentions here (assuming you're not *already* hiding your traffic on the wider internet, which is fair enough) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MuffinMedic · 2016-08-25 21:13 [Uncloaking IP Addresses on IRC](http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=vi deos/derbycon3/2306-uncloaking-ip-addresses-on-irc-derek-callaway) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- astroMD · 2016-08-25 21:13 Just discovered ZNC and it's friggin magic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- j4jackj · 2016-08-26 01:50 they disabled monitor because of cloak shit... after the bug that caused a mem leak. Freenode are fucking incompetent.