Hello guys.
I'm bringing this question to the forums since I've been trying to irc, and no success at all.
Here's the deal, but before that let me establish a background:
1- My phone is an HTC Dream
2- I'm running CyanogenMod 6.0-RC1 (was running 4.2 and 5.0.8).
3- I live in a country which is under the US embargo. Still...
I'm trying to access market and here's what I've done:
1- Used market-{access,enabler} to change my SIM provider
2- Setup my machine as the phone's gateway
3- Transparently filtered outgoing traffic for ports 80 and 443 to the tor network.
Still I'm having the same issue over and over, I don't get a forbidden message, I don't get another informative feedback, and the logs keep complaining on AuthFailureException, something InvalidToken related.
So I might be wondering is this is a bug, it's my location or the software I'm running, and if there's a solution available. I wonder if some of the most skilled of you can take a short live session with me, so we can spot it out. I'm not developer of Android, but a medium-to-advanced user, but still can't get inside the Market app. As a workaround i'm using the Slide market, but lacks a lot of applications and core components for Android, such as the Pico TTS files, and the like. Can you be helpful on this??? Hoping forward to your answers.
I recently read in a post about whether AT&T can tell if you are tethering. This is the response that another user here posted:
thekurrgan said:
Truth: They can tell you are tethering via ANY conveyance that uses IPNAT.
If it uses IPNAT, then the TTL is reduced by 1 since there is another hop. This is how they tell. This little bastardly monitoring technique is deployed on all "enhanced backhaul" sites and is slowly being added to the rest of their towers that are UMTS or better. A simple defeat is using a proxy type of program.. at that point there is absolutely no way they can prove you are tethering, since all packets actually ARE originating from the phone. I personally installed a squid server and set my devices to use it.
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Click to collapse
My Inspire is rooted, running CM7, and I tether very seldom. I am however going to be traveling soon, and will probably be tethering much more often. Can someone kindly tell me how to set up this "squid" server, or point me to a guide somewhere? Is it an app for the phone, a tool installed on my laptop, or a combination of both? This all sounds pretty foreign to me, so any help would be appreciated..
Thanks in advance..
..........
Some more fodder on Squid:
http://www.squid-cache.org/
knarfl1 said:
Some more fodder on Squid:
http://www.squid-cache.org/
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I checked out that site earlier, and it was way over my head. I also noticed that you mentioned SSH Tunnel but you edited it. I actually installed that already, but have no clue how to set it up. By looking at both links, I'm assuming I need applications installed on both my laptop, and phone. Am I correct in assuming that the host name I need to enter on SSH Tunnel is the name of the squid (or other) server on my laptop?
As far as Squid goes, is there anything else out there that is a little more novice friendly in terms of installation?
I'm beginning to think this whole thing may be a little over my head, and should just tether sparingly. Guess I'm a little paranoid..
ddiehl said:
Thanks for the reply. I checked out that site earlier, and it was way over my head. I also noticed that you mentioned SSH Tunnel but you edited it. I actually installed that already, but have no clue how to set it up. By looking at both links, I'm assuming I need applications installed on both my laptop, and phone. Am I correct in assuming that the host name I need to enter on SSH Tunnel is the name of the squid (or other) server on my laptop?
As far as Squid goes, is there anything else out there that is a little more novice friendly in terms of installation?
I'm beginning to think this whole thing may be a little over my head, and should just tether sparingly. Guess I'm a little paranoid..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I realized SSH Tunnel wasn't much of a help so I removed it.
What the unnamed person is talking about is basically you need to have your phone point to a proxy for apps that access the mobile network.
Whether AT&T knows rogue tether users by non-ATT APNs or natted IP bounce, proxy will hide the usage and make you anonymous.
So,
You need to configure your phone to point to a proxy. Since Android doesn't have proxy features, you need to modify system files (don't want to do that) or install a proxy app (like ProxyDroid) to point to a proxy server (in the unnamed network guy's case, a caching proxy server running Squid.)
Now the question is do you have a proxy that you can point your phone to?
I've noticed PDANet tethering app (v 5.01) for iPhone now has hide usage feature. Hide usage feature is not yet implemented for Android version.
IMO, if you use the tethering sparingly, you will be ok.
I'm using my transformer at school and the school is providing wifi to its students. But there are apparently some odd restrictions associated with it. No app of mine is allowed to access the internet with the exception of browsers and also I'm not allowed to download anything (it just says "download unsuccesful" no matter what I download or from where). I've tried to look for a reson for this and I found out that it might be some firewall settings on the computer that is hosting the wifi, I also asked the school's IT guy and he said that it's likely to be the reason. But the thing is that all the people with computers and iPhones can use applications that use the internet with no problems at all. This makes me think that the wifi host regards me as dangerous or suspicious for some reason, and because it does allow computers and iPhones to use apps that access the internet and are allowed to download files, I think that it might be fixable. Perhaps there are some particular settings that make the wifi host's security to regard me as dangerous and doesn't allow my apps to go to the internet. So what do I have to do for my apps to be able to access the internet and to be able to download files? I really want to know this, because many of the useful apps require internet and by not using them I'm not taking the full advantage of the device. I should also mention that my tablet is running 3.2.1.
But have you tried asking them about letting you use your "netbook" on their netbook. What's the worst they can do? say NO TABLETS ALLOWED? Because unless they know your exact MAC address, they probably won't be able to do anything about it. In my old school, I brought up that I would like to connect my windows mobile device to their network (when I was using it as an mp3 player) and they said sure (they had terrible firewalls which blocked most every site that was fun). Sometimes, the best kind of hackery is the social kind.
Dyskmaster said:
But have you tried asking them about letting you use your "netbook" on their netbook.
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What do you mean by that?
norsul said:
What do you mean by that?
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Click to collapse
I guess his telling you to ask for permission to use your netbook on their network.
Well first of all I'm using a tablet running android 3.2.1. And I'm kind of confused by your use of the word network, because I said that I can use the school's wifi network for students, but only to some extent, meaning that none of my apps with the exception of the browser are not allowed to access the internet e. g. android market, google translate don't work, they just say that they are unable to connect to the network or something similar. Also downloading any file from anywhere is not allowed, it says download unsuccessful. But iPhone user's apps work perfectly fine. From this I concluded that there must be something about my tablet that makes their security think my apps are dangerous and therefore blocks them, and that because there is no such problem on iOS, I thought that the might be something wrong with my end, and that it it fixable. And my question was what do I need to do to fiz this? I hope that clarifies my point.
statsminister said:
I guess his telling you to ask for permission to use your netbook on their network.
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Click to collapse
yes, thanks, I was kinda in a hurry when I typed that
Ask your school's IT department. Network configurations can be quite complex, and without knowledge of how or what they're blocking- it's hard for us to help. IT would know the issue better, or at least give the explanation as to why it isn't working. For instance, last year at my college nothing but computers were allowed to connect to the wifi. Such control can be done on the network side, and it may not be your tablet's fault.
Have you any friends with an Android device, or better yet android tablet?
I did ask the IT guy and he said that he has no control over the security settings, because it's a network across all of the schools in the city, not just the school in which I am.
Hey, I've tried using dropbox at school and then it says "cache access denied", maybe that can somehow clarify my problem.
settings
Have you set your settings/applications to allow unknown sources (ie is it ticked).
Colin
colint3 said:
Have you set your settings/applications to allow unknown sources (ie is it ticked).
Colin
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Click to collapse
That's only to allow installing apps not from the Market (sideloading). It has nothing to do with an app working or not.
Haven't you ever heard of proxy and content filtering?
Schools often set up proxies to restrict certain sites and content from working on their networks. They do it for a variety of reason, including bandwidth conservation, content filtering, network security, etc.
More than likely, they have blocked anything that they deem unnecessary. That means that probably only port 80 is allowed (the http port), possibly a few others for https, pop3 and imap for email, etc.
However, if you're a more advanced user, you can probably bypass right past all of this stuff by setting up your own proxy, or using encapsulation (like nstx or icmptx) to bypass their proxy by encapsulating other services inside DNS or ICMP traffic which are usually allowed to bypass the proxy at school. Like I said though, these are advanced techniques and require you to research and set it up yourself.
a.mcdear said:
Haven't you ever heard of proxy and content filtering?
Schools often set up proxies to restrict certain sites and content from working on their networks. They do it for a variety of reason, including bandwidth conservation, content filtering, network security, etc.
More than likely, they have blocked anything that they deem unnecessary. That means that probably only port 80 is allowed (the http port), possibly a few others for https, pop3 and imap for email, etc.
However, if you're a more advanced user, you can probably bypass right past all of this stuff by setting up your own proxy, or using encapsulation (like nstx or icmptx) to bypass their proxy by encapsulating other services inside DNS or ICMP traffic which are usually allowed to bypass the proxy at school. Like I said though, these are advanced techniques and require you to research and set it up yourself.
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Click to collapse
No, I do not no anything about proxy or content filtering, but I remember when I was connecting to the wifi network of the school I was asked to configure the proxy settings by putting some ip address ( I presume that it is an ip adress because it looked like one) and writing 8080 in the port field. If I didn't configure it like that, the internet would simply not work. Could you please tell me where I could educate myself about bypassing proxies or is i a matter that would require a very long time to learn and a lot of prerequisite knowledge?
And by the way, are you sure that this could be done on a tablet? All of that fiddling around seems to require a considerable degree of control which android may lack, or would rooting give me that control?
norsul said:
No, I do not no anything about proxy or content filtering, but I remember when I was connecting to the wifi network of the school I was asked to configure the proxy settings by putting some ip address ( I presume that it is an ip adress because it looked like one) and writing 8080 in the port field. If I didn't configure it like that, the internet would simply not work. Could you please tell me where I could educate myself about bypassing proxies or is i a matter that would require a very long time to learn and a lot of prerequisite knowledge?
And by the way, are you sure that this could be done on a tablet? All of that fiddling around seems to require a considerable degree of control which android may lack, or would rooting give me that control?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK yeah you are going through a proxy then. The good news is, that because you have to configure it manually, they probably aren't using transparent proxy which can make it easier to bypass.
Getting nstx or icmptx working natively on Android should be possible in theory as both are lightweight and designed to work in Linux... perhaps it can be made into a module that can be activated/deactivated with a shell script, or added to a custom kernel.. obviously this would require a rooted tablet to accomplish.
The other required part of the equation is a computer accessible from the internet, which you can set up install a DNS server and nstx on.
If you manage to get it all working correctly, set your home IP address as your proxy instead of your schools proxy, and you should be able to get through. It should also work to let you access the web for free at places like Starbucks or at hotels where the web is normally routed to a site where you have to pay for web access.
Good luck!
a.mcdear said:
OK yeah you are going through a proxy then. The good news is, that because you have to configure it manually, they probably aren't using transparent proxy which can make it easier to bypass.
Getting nstx or icmptx working natively on Android should be possible in theory as both are lightweight and designed to work in Linux... perhaps it can be made into a module that can be activated/deactivated with a shell script, or added to a custom kernel.. obviously this would require a rooted tablet to accomplish.
The other required part of the equation is a computer accessible from the internet, which you can set up install a DNS server and nstx on.
If you manage to get it all working correctly, set your home IP address as your proxy instead of your schools proxy, and you should be able to get through. It should also work to let you access the web for free at places like Starbucks or at hotels where the web is normally routed to a site where you have to pay for web access.
Good luck!
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That sounds awesome maybe you could make the app id buy it
I found two apps on the android market : proxydroid and ssh tunnel, do you think they would help me to bypass the school's proxy?
And by the way, how legal is this business? I mean I doubt that the school would send be to jail for using google translate but I'm still curious.
Legal issues are a potential problem, but its doubtful it would ever be a problem at school. Setting this up on your tablet certainly isn't illegal in itself, but if you're stealing wifi that you would otherwise have to pay for, you CAN get yourself in quite a bit of trouble if you get caught.
a.mcdear said:
Legal issues are a potential problem, but its doubtful it would ever be a problem at school. Setting this up on your tablet certainly isn't illegal in itself, but if you're stealing wifi that you would otherwise have to pay for, you CAN get yourself in quite a bit of trouble if you get caught.
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Ok thanks, wifi network in the school is free for all students so I should be ok. But what about those apps I mentioned before?
And how would I protect myself from geting caught and what is the likelyhood of me getting caught? Can they immediately notice it if someone's trying to bypass their firewall or not? I should point out that the it manager in our school knows quite little about the sexurity system or ao he told me when I asked him whether my problem is somehow connected to their security settings, but the network is not pwned by the school, it's owned by the city and it is present in many schools beside mine, so I think that they might take their security seriously. So basically what I am trying to say is that if I investigate this matter, come there and bypass the proxy so that the youtube app works, is it likely that I am going to get caught, and if yes then what are the ways of minimising the risk (please bear in mind that I have not experience in this)? I'm asking this because I think it's not a very good idea to just walk in and hack the network without any experience and expect that there is no possibility of getting caught.
No neither of those apps are really the solution to your problem. There isn't currently an app for Android that will set up encapsulation like I'm talking about.
And yes, your IT manager at school "might" be able to catch you, but only if he's specifically looking for it. What this basically does is encapsulate your regular IP traffic inside DNS packets (or pings for the icmptx method), which are generally allowed to pass through firewalls and content filters. Basically, it is detectable if your network administrator is looking in the right place and knows his stuff. There would either look like a constant stream of DNS requests from a particular IP on the school network, or a constrant stream of ICMP traffic (pings) being sent out. However both ICMP and DNS are normal for any network, so its also equally possible that the administrator never notices that anything is wrong at all...
Some more sophisticated networks may employ transparent DNS or transparent proxy, which would make these efforts much harder. Transparent proxy is able to intercept any traffic and force it through the proxy at school, while transparent DNS is able to intercept DNS traffic and force it to use a specific DNS server regardless of settings on your tablet.
Like I said in the beginning though, these are really advanced networking tricks that certainly aren't easy to set up, even when all the components are readily available.. its possible they haven't even been attempted yet on an Android device. That said, it shouldn't be difficult to port either icmptx or nstx over to Android for somebody with the requisite programming skills.
Koush, they guy behind Clockworkmod has come up with another little gem you might want to try. It is a tether app that bypasses most carrier restrictions and allows easy data tethering of your phone to your PC/Mac/Linux computer. Another little plus: It does NOT require root!
Below is his post on Google+ where you can download the relevant client, and it pushes the APK over to your phone. (Make sure USB debugging is enabled.) It is still in Alpha so may not work for everyone, but we know from his previous work that all kinks will eventually be ironed out.
https://plus.google.com/103583939320326217147/posts/1Yy1jb9z4TA
suggest spoofing your browser's user agent
Serious bump to this post. I've got eight days left on the free trial and intend to throw down the five bucks once it asks, no question. Thanks Koushik and anyone else involved, and thanks wnp_79 for calling some XDA attention to this. I'd be interested in knowing how it works it greater detail. Here's the google play link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.tether
This is a godsend as I'm in a situation where I suddenly need to tether a lot and my T-Mobile USA plan is, or at least the lady claimed, super unlimited, no cap whatsoever and no throttling. Hard to believe, and I'm in LTE areas. The only asterisk is that I pay extra if I want to tether, and there is a limit on tethering, no unlimited, and I don't know if they're looking for tethering or if they're focusing on their bigger problems. Even works on Linux, even lets me do other things like ssh. But one thing this app and its proxy magic do not do is change your browser's user agent string. That leaves you vulnerable to carrier detection based on what browser you're using.
So, to be a little extra safe in case your carrier is sniffing for that, if you're going to be doing this a lot and going heavy on the data, perhaps change (spoof) your computer's browser's user agent (how it identifies itself to servers) from its default to a mobile device, ideally identical to what you use on your phone. To do this without installing anything onto your browser, check this guide, http://www.howtogeek.com/113439/how...user-agent-without-installing-any-extensions/. For example this can be done easily in Firefox's about:config.
Or, use extensions/addons.. For Chrome, User-Agent Switcher for Chrome (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher-for-c/djflhoibgkdhkhhcedjiklpkjnoahfmg) works. For Firefox, User Agent Switcher (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/user-agent-switcher/). I've used both, they work (watched my own server logs to be sure) and seem legit. Downside is that you'll be seeing some mobile-formatted sites but hey, possibly-safer scofflaw tethering.
Basically there's two things I'm trying to accomplish. The first thing is to be able to SAFELY access my pc when I'm not at home. The second is to be able to log onto my local network from the outside world and make it look as if the traffic originates from there.
At home on my local wifi I often access my PC using Remote Desktop. I'd like to safely be able to do the same thing from a phone or external PC. I'm under the impression that the best way to do this was with a VPN but the precise what and how eludes me. My best current guess is to setup a VPN Server on my wifi router but does that mean any generic VPN software I install on my phone can get through? I'm really just guessing but possibly this will accomplish both things I'm trying to do.
Additionally I could also setup a VPN Client on the wifi router which would provide VPN protection to any device logged onto my lan without having to install anything on every tablet in my household.
Added to this is that I've used Kaspersky antivirus for over 20 years on my pc's and VPN just became free with the package so I've used the 3 licenses I get on my PC and my and my wife's phones. Hopefully I can use my Kaspersky VPN to access the DDNS that I got free from ASUS to complete the circle.
It should be clear from this discussion that I'm grasping at straws, I've googled a bunch of confusing and potentially conflicting information along with everybody and his brother that wants to sell something VPN related.
I'm also posting this on the Windows 10 Help forum as here and there is where I get most of my technical advice.
Look inside here:
How to Build Your Own VPN (and Why You Might Want to)
Ever thought of creating a VPN from scratch but didn't know where to start? Get answers to all your questions in this comprehensive guide.
vpnoverview.com
As far as I know, there are many models of home router with built-in VPN server capabilities. Check your router's manual at first.
James_Watson said:
As far as I know, there are many models of home router with built-in VPN server capabilities. Check your router's manual at first.
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I'm goimg forward on the basis that all I need to do what I want is the Router's built-in server, along with an Asus provided DDNS, to allow VPN connection from my outside devices and the Router's built-in VPN Client to give VPN protection to all devices within my local wifi. I bought the router with this capability in mind as well as speed improvements over my old router. It's the Asus RT-AC86U router and it "should" do the above as well as allow externally connected devices to act as if originating from my home system.
It may take me a bit to do this but I'll report back once I have an answer.
jwoegerbauer said:
Look inside here:
How to Build Your Own VPN (and Why You Might Want to)
Ever thought of creating a VPN from scratch but didn't know where to start? Get answers to all your questions in this comprehensive guide.
vpnoverview.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response. I looked at a number of how to guides, the one I'm going forward with is how-to-easily-access-your-home-network-from-anywhere.
I have an issue with setting up the VPN Server Client on my router (Asus RT-AC86U) that I have a service call in with Asus for, so the VPN Client side is on hold for a bit.
I was able to successfully configure the VPN Server (at least the OpenVPN protocol section) and setup a DDNS. From what I read this should be sufficient to allow an external device to login to my home system but I've seen no guide that describes this final step.
Do I simply use Remote Desktop on the external device to logon to my PC through the DDNS while the VPN (in OpenVPN protocol in this case) is enabled?
That would mostly work but what I really would like would be for the external device appear to be on my local wifi and not on the local PC itself. How do I do that?
Can anyone point me in the correct direction?
I did just find another piece of information the may apply here. In one of the guides I read the following:
"save the OpenVPN configuration file which will be used by the remote device to access your router."
There was a client.ovpn file generated during the router's VPN Server setup. The above sentance implies that I need to somehow get the VPN software on the external device to use this file and then I'll be able to logon to my home system. Can anyone shed more light on this?
*** Update ***
I was able to setup the OpenVPN Server on my ASUS RT-AC86U router and it does allow me to safely access my home LAN from anywhere. I can login to my home router's user interface and use Remote Desktop to login to my PC. Also since the VPN changes my IP address to that of my home system everything works as it would if I was actually there.
The one thing I haven't been able to do is access my pc's shared drive.
Anyone have any clue how to fix that?
Finally I also tried to setup the VPN Client on the router to access the VPN Server. ASUS said you should be able to do that but it results in an IP conflict that their tech support hasn't yet solved.
The benefit of using the router's VPN client is that any device on my local wifi is automatically protected by a VPN without installing anything on the device. The point is somewhat moot since all each device needs is a free app and the config file created by the VPN Server.
I did look at setting up a VPN Server on my Win 10 PC, but it looked like too much work and too much chance of messing something up, to attempt.