How to create a VPN for secure web browsing using Hamachi.

By +Warwagon
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Do you feel insecure when browsing the internet over an open unsecured wireless access point?  

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  1. 1. Do you feel insecure when browsing the internet over an open unsecured wireless access point?

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Grand Master

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How to create a VPN for secure web browsing using Hamachi.

Do you feel insecure when browsing the internet over an open unsecured wireless access point? Well some people do, myself included. In this guide I will explain how to create a VPN for web browsing using Hamachi in combination with privoxy.

For this to work its best to use a computer that is always turned on and never goes to sleep. I prefer setting it up on an old low end computer that you just put in a corner and forget about. (except for installing updates on of course)

Step 1: Installing Hamachi

Go to the following address http://files.hamachi.cc/HamachiSetup-1.0.3.0-en.exe to download and install hamachi. They have a paid version and a free version. For what we need it for, the free version will work just fine. During the install tell hamachi to start with windows.

Step 2: Creating a new Hamachi network.
This will be the account that your laptop will connect to.

1) Click the triangle icon in the bottom right of hamachi.
2) Click "Create a new network"
3) Type in a network name. For the password I'd recommend going to https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm. On the page are 3 different sets of 64 character passwords. Every time you refresh the page a new set will be generated. Copy and paste one into the password field of hamachi. I'd also recommend you paste the same password into notepad and save it so you can copy and paste it later to connect to this account.

Hamachi is now ready to go. Next we will setup the proxy server portion. For this guide we will be using privoxy http://www.privoxy.org/. I'm sure there are other ones that will work too, but this one is free and it gets the job done.

Step 3: Setting up and configuring privoxy.

1) Download and install privoxy from http://www.privoxy.org/. You'll also want to put a copy of the privoxy icon in your startup folder.
2) Launch the application
3) Click Options / Edit Main Configuration. This will open up a notepad document. Search the document for "listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118. You want the one that does not have an asterisk in front of it. Replace the 127.0.0.1 with the 5.x.x.x number that is displayed on the top of hamachi.
4) Exit and save the document. You may have to restart the application for the change to take in effect.

Step 4: Setting up the VPN on your laptop.

1) Install hamachi on your laptop and create another new account.
2) Click the triangle in the bottom right of hamachi. This time choose "join an existing network".
3) Type in the name and password of the server you created in step 1 #3. Copying and pasting the password usually works the best.

Step 4: Setting up your web browsers to feel the proxy love.

This step is pretty simple. Go into the proxy options of your web browser. When it asks for an IP address give it the hamachi IP address of the server. When it wants a port number give it 8118.

That's it. You're done! Now when you are in a public access point and connected to hamachi all your web browsing traffic should be encrypted. Now lets test it to see if everything is working. Open the web browser that you just configured to go through a proxy server. Go to a website that displays your internet IP. If everything is working you should get the IP of your internet connection at home. Of course if you are testing this at home, it really won't do much good. You could always mooch off someones wireless access point just long enough to see which IP the site is giving you.

Note: Just remember if you have multiple web browsers on your computer, only the ones with their proxy settings configured will be encrypted.

Edited by warwagon
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Nick Sheldon

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  BudMan said:
^ yeah lots of people are not aware of how to circumvent browsing policies at work or school.. This is a great guide on how to do exactly that.

This _mostly_ won't work for circumvention if the network and policies are set up properly, and I don't think the guide is meant as such. It's a way to safe surf encrypted in a public environment.

Grand Master

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  BudMan said:
^ yeah lots of people are not aware of how to circumvent browsing policies at work or school.. This is a great guide on how to do exactly that.

My intent in writing this guide was to give people (like shockz) a more secure way of browsing the internet on an unsecured wireless network. (Example: Starbucks or the local hospital) Nothing more. I hadn't even thought of the workplace and school ramifications. What workplace or school allows 3rd party installation of programs like Himachi? They have a lot larger problem if they are that unsecured.

Edited by warwagon
Grand Master

Colin-uk Veteran

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im pretty sure you need admin rights to install hamachi because it installs a driver. most schools wont let you do that type of thing, probably :p

nice guide tho, although i find hamachi a bit slow sometimes, i just use putty and stunnel (takes a bit more setting up though :p )

Grand Master

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  Colin-uk said:
im pretty sure you need admin rights to install hamachi because it installs a driver. most schools wont let you do that type of thing, probably :p

nice guide tho, although i find hamachi a bit slow sometimes, i just use putty and stunnel (takes a bit more setting up though :p )

ya this one is pretty much, click click type type and done. Only reason I didn't port forward some ports in from the router instead of using hamachi is, I don't like to have to open ports on my server if I don't have to. because even if you couldn't install hamachi you could always port forward 8118 on your server. Then just use your IP address assuming it doesn't change. Though the school really should have all the ports locked down other than whats needed like port 80.

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

Rudy

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  warwagon said:
My intent in writing this guide was to give people (like shockz) a more secure way of browsing the internet on an unsecured wireless network. (Example: Starbucks or the local hospital) Nothing more. I hadn't even thought of the workplace and school ramifications. What workplace or school allows 3rd party installation of programs like Himachi? They have a lot larger problem if they are that unsecured.

with Putty you can set up a tunnel and in firefox set it to use the tunnel (proxy settings). Both these programs can be used without having to install them

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Grand Master

+Warwagon MVC

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  On 01/09/2010 at 16:01, Sawyer12 said:

Do I need to forward port 8118 to get this to work outside?

Not if you connect via hamachi. Once connected with hamachi it's like both computers are on the same internal lan.

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