Introduction[edit]

Whonix ™ comes with many security features ^[archive]. Whonix ™ is Kicksecure ™ security hardened by default and also provides extensive Documentation including a System Hardening Checklist. The more you know, the safer you can be.

Whonix ™ developers have done their utmost to provide solid tools which protect online privacy, but no perfect solution exists to the complex anonymity problem. Before deciding whether Whonix ™ is the right platform to use, it is crucial that each individual understands the limitations of the tools offered and how to make best use of them.

Anonymous Identities[edit]

Separation of Different Contextual Identities[edit]

It is usually inadvisable to use the same Whonix-Workstation ™ to perform more than one task, or when using two (or more) contextual identities that must be kept separate from each other. For example, it is poor operational security to use the same Whonix-Workstation ™ to check email via Tor, while simultaneously publishing an anonymous document.

The first reason is Tor tends to reuse the same circuits, for example during the same browsing session. The Tor exit relay of a circuit knows both the destination server (and possibly the content of the communication if not encrypted) and the address of the previous relay it received the communication from. This makes it easier to infer that several browsing requests which took place on the same circuit are possibly correlated and originate from the same person. Global adversaries described later are in the perfect position to undertake this form of correlation analysis.

Secondly, if Whonix ™ or one of its applications has a security hole or is misused, then information might leak from the Whonix-Workstation ™. That could reveal that the same person was behind the various activities conducted inside the Whonix-Workstation ™.

To address both threats, better isolation of new identities is required on every occasion they are used. It is recommended to conduct one activity at a time, and implement one or more of the following solutions: ^[1]

• Multiple VM Snapshots.
• Multiple Whonix-Workstation ™.
• DisposableVMs in Qubes-Whonix ™.

Using this feature, Tor may only have replaced the middle relay while using the same Tor exit relay. Additionally, "signal newnym" will not interfere with long-lived connections like an IRC connection. Apart from the Tor circuits, other types of information can reveal past activities, for example the cookies stored by the browser. Therefore, this arm feature is not a solution for properly separating contextual identities.

Protection Against Social Engineering[edit]

Whonix ™ does not protect against social engineering ^[archive] attacks. These attacks rely on human cognitive biases and trick people into revealing passwords or other sensitive information that allows the compromise of a target system's security. ^[2]

Other examples of social engineering include convincing someone to send a copy of logs or other information from the Whonix-Gateway ™ or host operating system machine. In all cases, after trust has been established between the attacker and the victim, and sufficient information has been gathered, an exploit will be executed to perform harmful actions such as stealing personal or financial information, sabotaging the target's system, deanonymizing the individual and so on. ^[2]

The best tools in maintaining anonymity are the knowledge that comes from research and experience, and healthy skepticism towards scenarios that pose potential security threats.

Dedicated wiki page: Social Engineering.

Protection Against External Threats or User Mistakes[edit]

Obviously, Whonix ™ cannot protect against external threats like people looking over the user's shoulder or gaining physical access to the machine in order to subvert the anonymity features of Tor and Whonix ™.

Neither can Whonix ™ prevent people from shooting themselves in the foot, leading to inadvertent deanonymization. It is strongly encouraged to read the Tips on Remaining Anonymous page to learn about non-technical steps to stay anonymous when using Tor, Tor Browser and Whonix ™. This list considers:

Only Whonix-Workstation ™ is Designed for Anonymous Activity[edit]

The host operating system -- the operating system running the virtualizer, and the system which was used before downloading Whonix ™ -- is not "torified". Anonymous tasks should never be performed on the host system.

The Whonix-Gateway ™ is solely designed to run Tor and act as a firewall. Any "anonymous" activities should not be conducted on the Gateway. Further, in most cases there is no need to modify settings on the Whonix-Gateway ™, except for minor modifications like setting up bridges which is already documented.

Attacks[edit]

Man-in-the-middle Attacks[edit]

A man-in-the-middle attack (MitM) is a where an attacker makes independent connections with two parties and secretly relays (and potentially alters) messages between them. This is a form of active eavesdropping, since the two parties think they are communicating directly with each other and are unaware the conversation is being controlled by the attacker. ^[3]

Figure: Illustration of a MitM Attack

While using Tor, MitM attacks can still happen between the exit relay and the destination server. The exit relay itself can also act as a man-in-the-middle. For an example of such an attack see MW-Blog: TOR exit-node doing MITM attacks ^[archive] (w ^[archive]). It is worth reiterating that protecting against these attacks requires end-to-end encryption and taking extra steps to verify the server's authenticity.

Normally a server's authenticity is automatically verified by the browser using SSL/TLS certificates ^[archive] which are checked against a set of recognized certificate authorities (CAs) ^[archive]. If a security exception message appears like the figure below, then this might constitute a MitM attack. The warning should not be bypassed unless there is another trusted way of checking the certificate's fingerprint with the people running the service.

Figure: An Untrusted Connection

Mozilla has an educational resource to help determine if a connection to a website is secure ^[archive]. (w ^[archive]) The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) also has an excellent interactive illustration ^[archive] that provides an overview of HTTP / HTTPS ^[4] connections with and without Tor, and what information is visible to various third parties.

The Fallible Certificate Authority Model[edit]

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Internet encryption relies on the CA model of trust which is susceptible to various methods of compromise. Ultimately, encryption in and of itself does not solve the authentication problem in electronic communications, as seen in the actions of advanced adversaries who have targeted and undermined this central pillar upon which the Internet relies.

For example, Verisign was hacked successfully and repeatedly ^[archive] in 2010, with the likely conclusion being the attackers were able to forge certificates for an unknown number of websites.

A more glaring example was the confirmation by Comodo on March 15, 2011, that a user account with an affiliate registration authority had been compromised. This is a privacy and security disaster since Comodo is a major SSL/TLS ^[archive] company and the breach led to the creation of a new user account that issued nine certificate signing requests for seven domains: mail.google.com, login.live.com, www.google.com, login.yahoo.com (three certificates), login.skype.com, addons.mozilla.org, and global trustee. ^[5]

Later in 2011, DigiNotar, a Dutch SSL certificate company, incorrectly issued certificates to a malicious party or parties. It later emerged that DigiNotar was apparently compromised months before, or perhaps even in May of 2009, if not earlier. Rogue certificates were issued for multiple domains, including: google.com, mozilla.org, torproject.org, login.yahoo.com and many more. ^[6]

Considering the frequency of attacks and the passage of time, there is a distinct possibility that a MitM attack might occur even when the browser is trusting a HTTPS connection. ^[7]

SSL/TLS Alternatives[edit]

Depending on your personal circumstances, there are alternatives to SSL/TLS which can be considered. Unfortunately, none of them can be used as a drop-in replacement for SSL/TLS. Tools providing connection security include: Monkeysphere ^[archive], Convergence ^[archive], Perspectives Project ^[archive] and Tor onion services. ^[8]

Using Tor does not magically solve the authentication problem. Tor's distinct advantage is that by providing anonymity, it is more difficult for attackers to perform a MitM attack with a rogue SSL/TLS certificate that is targeted at just one specific individual. However, the disadvantage of Tor is that it is easier for people or organizations running malicious Tor exit relays to perform a large scale MitM attempt. Further, malicious exit nodes could perform attacks targeted at a specific server, and especially those Tor clients who happen to utilize the service.

In all cases, it is advised to use additional message encryption for email, chats and so on. It is unwise to rely on SSL/TLS alone. Relevant tools that may be useful include:

• Encrypted messengers.
• GPG ^[archive].
• KGpg.
• Mozilla Thunderbird for anonymous, encrypted email.

^[9]

Tor Network Attacks[edit]

Tor is not invulnerable to attacks. Several techniques are already used for deanonymization and Whonix ™ users can be similarly affected -- some of these attacks are described in further detail below. Interested readers can also refer to the Speculative Tor Attacks entry for a more comprehensive list of potential attacks against the Tor client, servers and/or network.

Confirmation Attacks[edit]

A confirmation attack targets the broader Tor network itself, usually via multiple malicious Tor nodes. In this instance, the adversary controls or observes relays at both ends of the Tor circuit (the guard and exit relays). Comparisons are made of traffic timing, volume and other characteristics to confirm the relays share the same circuit. Since the first entry guard knows the user's IP, and the last exit relay knows the destination/resource accessed (like a webpage), this leads to deanonymization. ^[10]

In a 2009 blog post, The Tor Project described this threat of deanonymization under specific conditions ^[archive]: ^[11]

The Tor design doesn't try to protect against an attacker who can see or measure both traffic going into the Tor network and also traffic coming out of the Tor network. That's because if you can see both flows, some simple statistics let you decide whether they match up.

That could also be the case if your ISP (or your local network administrator) and the ISP of the destination server (or the destination server itself) cooperate to attack you.

Tor tries to protect against traffic analysis, where an attacker tries to learn whom to investigate, but Tor can't protect against traffic confirmation (also known as end-to-end correlation), where an attacker tries to confirm a hypothesis by monitoring the right locations in the network and then doing the math.

Traffic Analysis[edit]

Adversaries conducting traffic analysis are able to discover a varying amount of user information, depending on the position(s) they are occupying in the network. The following observations reveal various information, in increasing order: ^[12]

• Observing the client-to-guard-node network path.
• Controlling the guard relay, as individual circuits can be examined.
• Observing the paths to the guard relay and from the Tor exit relay.
• Controlling the guard and exit relays (or client guard and onion service guard).
• Controlling both ends of the communication, and able to inject and manipulate traffic patterns.

Notably, The Tor Project has recently highlighted research that has identified a number of new, low cost, website traffic (fingerprinting) analysis attacks and potential mitigations; see Website Oracles for further information.

Guard Discovery[edit]

Advanced adversaries are capable of identifying the guard node(s) in use by an onion service or Tor client. Many connections are made to the onion service, forcing it to create multiple circuits until one of the adversary's nodes is chosen as the middle relay (next to the guard). A traffic analysis side channel then confirms the relay is next to the onion service, confirming the identity of the service's guard node. The guard node is then compromised, forced or surveilled to discover the actual IP address of the onion service or client. ^[12]

Tor Defenses[edit]

Tor has implemented some defenses against limited adversaries that can gather traffic statistics from Internet routers along the path to the guard node, and is planning defenses against website traffic fingerprinting by guard node adversaries. However, a number of other attacks remain viable at present such as end-to-end correlation attacks, alternate guard node exploits, circuit fingerprinting attacks and so on.

Documents[edit]

Document Encryption[edit]

If documents are saved inside Whonix ™, they will not be encrypted by default. This is why it is recommended to apply full disk encryption on the host to protect sensitive data.

Documents created in Whonix ™ may also have specific file signatures that reveal use of the platform. This issue is currently being further investigated.

Document Metadata[edit]

Numerous file formats store hidden data or metadata inside of the files. For example, text processors or PDF files could store the author's name, the date and time of file creation, and sometimes even parts of the file's editing history. The extent of hidden data depends on the file format and the software that is used.

Image file formats like TIFF ^[archive] and JPEG ^[archive] are some of the worst offenders. For instance, when these files are created by digital cameras or mobile phones, they contain a metadata format called Exif ^[archive] whose defined tags can include:

• Date and time information.
• Occasionally GPS coordinates of the picture.
• Camera settings: camera model and make (including the serial number), orientation (rotation), aperture, shutter speed, focal length, metering mode and ISO speed information.
• A thumbnail for previewing the picture in file managers, on camera, or in photo editing software. Image processing software tend to keep Exif data intact.
• Descriptions.
• Copyright information.

Notably, the Internet is full of cropped or blurred images where the Exif thumbnail still contains the full original picture. Specialist software ^[archive] is often required to remove Exif tags before safely publishing images. ^[13]

Be aware that Whonix ™ does not clear file metadata automatically. However, Whonix ™ comes bundled with MAT2 -- the Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit v2 -- as part of the design goal to help protect users.

Email[edit]

Subject: and other Header Fields of Encrypted Emails[edit]

This weakness is not related to Whonix ™ or the OpenPGP ^[archive] (w ^[archive]) protocol; it is for backwards compatibility with the original SMTP protocol ^[archive]. Unfortunately, no RFC standard exists yet for Subject line encryption.

TODO: investigate if this situation has improved since Thunderbird native OpenPGP support ^[archive].

Those who require OpenPGP encryption with a suitable email client are recommended to use Thunderbird (Mozilla's email client), which includes a graphical front-end for using the GnuPG ("GPG") encryption program.

Fingerprinting[edit]

Stylometry[edit]

Coding Style[edit]

Recent research ^[archive] has revealed that coders have a unique fingerprint similar to linguistic expressions. Machine learning techniques are capable of de-anonymizing code samples, using "abstract syntax trees" that analyze the underlying structure. For instance, a 2017 study found that GitHub coders could be identified with 99 per cent accuracy ^[archive] based on small and incomplete source code fragments. To date, attempts to obfuscate coding style have failed.

The implication is that "anonymous" developers of open-source projects might be identified by prior non-anonymous code contributions. It is likely that advanced adversaries will use this capability to target and de-anonymize developers of popular anonymity and censorship circumvention tools.

Linguistic Style[edit]

Whonix ™ does not obfuscate an individual's writing style, which is easily fingerprinted based on syntax and other grammatical idiosyncrasies. Unless precautions are taken, stylometric analysis based on linguistic characteristics ^[archive] is a credible threat. Research suggests only a few thousand words (or less) may be enough to positively identify an author, and there are a host of software tools available to conduct this analysis.

Whonix ™ Signature[edit]

Developers have designed Whonix ™ to be indistinguishable from standard use of the Tor network. However, there may be unknown fingerprinting methods available to ISPs and other network adversaries which identify Whonix ™ users. If this is a legitimate concern, then investigate optional configurations which can hide Tor / Whonix ™ use from the ISP.

Platform Security[edit]

Password Strength[edit]

Tor promotes online anonymity, while Whonix ™ automatically forces desktop-wide activities through Tor (along with many extra security features). However, neither Tor or Whonix ™ are one-click solutions for impregnable security or absolute anonymity.

If weak passwords (passphrases) are used they can be easily determined by brute-force attacks ^[archive], whether or not Whonix ™ is installed. In essence, attackers systematically try all passwords until the correct one is found, or attempt to guess the key which is created from the password using a key derivation function (an exhaustive key search). This method is very fast for short and/or non-random passwords.

For greater security it is recommended to generate strong and unique Diceware passwords and follow other recommendations concerning safe habits, password generation and storage.

Compromised Hardware or Advanced Malware[edit]

Virtualizers like Qubes, VirtualBox and KVM cannot absolutely prevent the compromise of hardware, nor detect advanced malware. Running all activities inside VMs is a very reasonable approach. However, this only raises the bar and makes it more difficult and/or expensive to compromise the whole system. It is by no means a perfect solution. As one Google Project Zero researcher noted recently when demonstrating a VM escape in KVM: ^[15]

The bug and its exploit still serve as a demonstration that highly exploitable security vulnerabilities can still exist in the very core of a virtualization engine, which is almost certainly a small and well audited codebase. While the attack surface of a hypervisor such as KVM is relatively small from a pure LoC perspective, its low level nature, close interaction with hardware and pure complexity makes it very hard to avoid security-critical bugs. While we have not seen any in-the-wild exploits targeting hypervisors outside of competitions like Pwn2Own, these capabilities are clearly achievable for a well-financed adversary. I’ve spent around two months on this research, working as an individual with only remote access to an AMD system. Looking at the potential ROI on an exploit like this, it seems safe to assume that more people are working on similar issues right now and that vulnerabilities in KVM, Hyper-V, Xen or VMware will be exploited in-the-wild sooner or later.

Whonix ™ cannot provide protection if the system's trusted computing base ^[archive] has been compromised by:

• Physical access and the installation of untrusted pieces of hardware (like a keylogger);
• Firmware Trojans (including BIOS/UEFI attacks); or
• Malware.

If the host system is affected by malware, firmware trojans or malicious hardware components, then every Whonix ™ virtual machine, Tor process and communication thought to be anonymous is similarly compromised.

In the event a system compromise is strongly suspected or confirmed, the ultimate goal is to re-establish a trusted, private environment for future activities -- see Compromise Recovery for techniques to recover from host and/or Whonix ™ VM infections.

Host Security[edit]

The security of the Whonix ™ platform is itself reliant upon the security of the host. Naturally, a majority are likely to run Whonix ™ on top of the every day operating system without making any additional changes. However, safety is materially improved by using a dedicated host operating system solely for Whonix ™ VMs. For better security, this system should be configured on a computer bought solely for Whonix ™ activities, and which has never been used before.

There are a number of recommendations relevant to host OS security in the following Documentation sections:

• Basic Security Guide.
• Advanced Security Guide.
• Computer Security Education.

The System Hardening Checklist also provides a quick and handy reference guide for specific areas of interest.

Software[edit]

Avoid Non-Freedom Software[edit]

Table: Finding Backdoors in Freedom Software vs Non-Freedom Software

	Non-Freedom Software (precompiled binaries)	Freedom Software (source-available)
Original source code is reviewable	No	Yes
Compiled binary file can be decompiled into disassembly	Yes	Yes
Regular pre-compiled binaries	Depends [18]	Yes
Obfuscation [archive] (anti-disassembly, anti-debugging, anti-VM) [19] is usually not used	Depends [20]	Yes [21]
Price for security audit searching for backdoors	Very high [22]	Lower
Difference between precompiled version and self-compiled version	Unavailable [23]	Small or none [24]
Reverse-engineering [archive] is not required	No	Yes
Assembler language skills required	Much more	Less
Always legal to decompile / reverse-engineer	No [25] [26]	Yes [27]
Possibility of catching backdoors via observing incoming/outgoing Internet connections	Very difficult [28]	Very difficult [28]
Convenience of spotting backdoors	Lowest convenience [29]	Very high convenience [30]
Difficulty of spotting "direct" backdoors [31] [32] [33]	Much higher difficulty [34]	Much lower difficulty [35]
Difficulty of spotting a "bugdoor" [36]	Much higher difficulty [37]	Lower difficulty
Third parties can legally release a software fork [archive], a patched version without the backdoor	No [38]	Yes [39]
Third parties can potentially make (possibly illegal) modifications like disabling serial key checks [40]	Yes	Yes
Software is always modifiable	No [41]	Yes
Third parties can use static code analysis tools	No	Yes
Third parties can judge source code quality	No	Yes
Third parties can find logic bugs in the source code	No	Yes
Third parties can find logic bugs in the disassembly	Yes	Yes
Benefits from population-scale scrutiny	No	Yes
Third parties can benefit from debug symbols [archive] during analysis	Depends [42]	Yes
Display source code intermixed with disassembly	No	Yes [43]
Effort to audit subsequent releases	Almost same [44]	Usually lower [45]
Forum discussion: Finding Backdoors in Freedom Software vs Non-Freedom Software [archive]

Spotting backdoors is already very difficult in Freedom Software where the full source code is available to the general public. Spotting backdoors in non-freedom software composed of obfuscated binaries is exponentially more difficult. ^{[46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53]}

To further improve the situation in the future, the Freedom Software community is working on the Reproducible Builds ^[archive] project. Quote:

Reproducible builds are a set of software development practices that create an independently-verifiable path from source to binary code.

Whilst anyone may inspect the source code of free and open source software for malicious flaws, most software is distributed pre-compiled with no method to confirm whether they correspond.

This incentivises attacks on developers who release software, not only via traditional exploitation, but also in the forms of political influence, blackmail or even threats of violence.

This is particularly a concern for developers collaborating on privacy or security software: attacking these typically result in compromising particularly politically-sensitive targets such as dissidents, journalists and whistleblowers, as well as anyone wishing to communicate securely under a repressive regime.

Whilst individual developers are a natural target, it additionally encourages attacks on build infrastructure as an successful attack would provide access to a large number of downstream computer systems. By modifying the generated binaries here instead of modifying the upstream source code, illicit changes are essentially invisible to its original authors and users alike.

The motivation behind the Reproducible Builds project is therefore to allow verification that no vulnerabilities or backdoors have been introduced during this compilation process. By promising identical results are always generated from a given source, this allows multiple third parties to come to a consensus on a “correct” result, highlighting any deviations as suspect and worthy of scrutiny.

This ability to notice if a developer has been compromised then deters such threats or attacks occurring in the first place as any compromise would be quickly detected. This offers comfort to front-liners that they not only can be threatened, but they would not be coerced into exploiting or exposing their colleagues or end-users.

Several free software projects ^[archive] already, or will soon, provide reproducible builds.

Always Verify Signatures[edit]

For greater system security, it is strongly recommended to avoid installing unsigned software. Always make sure that signing keys and signatures are correct and/or use mechanisms that heavily simplify and automate this process, like APT upgrades.

As a reminder, digital signatures are not a magic bullet. While they increase the certainty that no backdoor was introduced by a third party during transit, this does not mean the software is absolutely "backdoor-free". Learn more about this process and what digital signatures prove.

Tor[edit]

Exit Relays can Eavesdrop on Communications[edit]

Instead of taking a direct route from source to destination, communications using the Tor network take a random pathway through several Tor relays to help cover the user's tracks. This means observers at any single point cannot tell both where the data came from and where it is going.

Figure: How Tor Works ^[54]

The last relay on the three-hop circuit is called the Tor exit relay. It is the critical relay that establishes the actual connection to the destination server. By design, Tor does not encrypt the traffic between a Tor exit relay and the final destination. This means any exit relay is in a position to capture any traffic passing through it. To protect against snooping by the Tor exit relay, end-to-end encryption should always be used. ^[55]

Malicious exit nodes have previously been used to spy on sensitive communications. For example, in 2007, a security researcher monitored the connections coming out of an exit relay under their control and intercepted thousands of private e-mail messages ^[archive] sent by foreign embassies and human rights groups around the world. (w ^[archive]).

While browsing, sending email or chatting online, it is recommended to utilize the necessary tools bundled with Whonix ™ to enforce strong encryption. Refer to the Documentation for necessary steps to remain safe. ^[56]

Use of Tor is Obvious[edit]

Tor tries to prevent attackers from learning what destination websites are being connected to.

Both the ISP and a local network administrator can easily check if connections are made to a Tor relay and not a normal web server. To learn more about whether it is possible to hide Tor network activity, see: Hide Tor use from the Internet Service Provider.

The destination server contacted through Tor can learn whether the communication originates from a Tor exit relay by consulting the publicly available list of known exit relays. For example, The Tor Project Tor Bulk Exit List tool ^[archive] could be used for this purpose.

Based on this information, Whonix ™ users will not appear to be a random Internet user is used to prevent the telltale signs of Tor use. The strong anonymity provided by Tor and Whonix ™ is based on trying to make everyone look exactly the same, so it is not possible to identify a specific individual in the larger user pool.

Ultimately, stronger protection requires a social approach; the larger the pool of Tor users (in close proximity) and the more diverse ^[archive] their interests, the less likely it will be that a specific individual can be identified. Convincing others to use Tor will help the larger anonymity-minded community. ^[57]

Persistent Guard Relays can Enable Physical Location Tracking[edit]

Many well known enhanced anonymity designs such as Tor, Whonix ™ and the Tor Browser Bundle (TBB) use persistent Tor guards. This decision is attributable to community-based research which demonstrates that persistent Tor entry guards benefit security and lower the probability of an adversary profiling a user.^[60]

In general, users should not interfere with Tor guard persistence or the natural rotation of entry guards every few months. At the time of writing, the Tor client selects one guard node, but previously used a three-guard design. Guards have a primary lifetime of 120 days.^{[61] [62] [63]}

Guard Fingerprinting[edit]

While natural guard rotation is recommended, there are some corner cases in which an adversary could fingerprint the entry guards ^[64] and de-anonymize a user. For instance:

• The same entry guards are used across various physical locations and access points.
• The same entry guards are used after permanently moving to a different physical location.

There are several ways to mitigate the risk of guard fingerprinting across different physical locations. In most cases, the original entry guards can also be re-established after returning home:

• Clone Whonix-Gateway ™ (sys-whonix) with New Entry Guards.
• Regenerate the Tor State File after Saving the Current Tor State.
• Configure Tor to use Alternating Bridges.
• If moving to a new location permanently, create Fresh Tor Entry Guards by Regenerating the Tor State File.

Forum discussion:
https://forums.whonix.org/t/persistent-tor-entry-guard-relays-can-make-you-trackable-across-different-physical-locations/2090 ^[archive]

For more information, see the advanced topic Configure Non-Persistent Entry Guards.

Tor cannot Protect Against a Global Adversary[edit]

A global, passive adversary is defined as a person or entity who is able to monitor the traffic between all the computers in a network at the same time. By studying the timing and volume patterns of the different communications across the network, it is statistically feasible to identify Tor circuits and thus match Tor clients with destination servers.

In order to create a low-latency communication service which is usable for web browsing, Internet chat or SSH connections, The Tor Project has made a security trade-off and has not attempted to address this threat.

For more expert information on this topic, see Tor Project: The Second-Generation Onion Router ^[archive], (w ^[archive]) part 3. Design goals and assumptions.

Whonix ™ Persistence vs Live vs Amnesic[edit]

Traces of software installations, files or other user activities depend on whether or not the user is using a live operating system or Host Live Mode.

VM Live Mode

Host Live Mode

Whonix ™ on USB

A Live Operating System or Host Live Mode is not Configured[edit]

If any software is downloaded or used on a computer, local traces of the download, installation and use will be left on the device's mass storage device (hard drive, HDD, SSD). This normal mode of operation is referred to as "persistent mode" since any files downloaded, documents created and so on will persist after reboot.

Any created files still exist after the computer is powered-off or rebooted, unless steps are taken to securely wipe the files or otherwise remove all signs of their existence. Unless VM Live Mode or Host Live Mode are used, there are no preventative measures to limit what is written to disk. This can lead to evidence of activity in created files, backup files, temporary files, swap, chat history, browser history and so on.

Be aware that although VM Live Mode inside Non-Qubes-Whonix ™ virtual machines (VMs) make writes go to RAM instead of the HDD/SSD, traces of activity may be left in swap files, core dumps or via other configurations on the host. If this is a risk in your circumstances, refer to Anti-Forensics Precautions or preferably utilize Host Live Mode. ^{[66] [67]}

It is likely most Whonix ™ users are utilizing persistent mode. For this reason it is recommended to use multiple VM Snapshots and to apply Full Disk Encryption on the host. A higher level of security is afforded by encrypting everything, including data, system and swap partitions.

A Live Operating System or Host Live Mode is Configured[edit]

Refer to the Host Live Mode chapter for further details.

Live DVD / USB[edit]

To install Whonix ™ on a USB, see: Whonix ™ on USB.

At the time of writing Whonix ™ does not offer a Live DVD / USB. This situation may change in the future, see: Whonix-Host.

Whonix ™ Development[edit]

Missing Whonix ™ Features[edit]

Whonix ™ is currently alpha quality software and missing some features, including those relating to security. While many issues listed below are planned for future implementation, a number will probably never get "fixed" because they are impossible to address in a software-only project.

Table: Missing Whonix ™ Features

Category	Missing Feature or Capability
Adversaries	Protect against global network adversaries.
AppArmor	Apply AppArmor profiles for every process or application. [68]
Backdoors	Protect against hardware or software backdoors.
Encryption	Encrypt a user's data, documents, files and so on.
Hardening	Use all the possible hardening options like full PIE and grsecurity.
Local Adversaries	Protect against local adversaries who could mount cold boot and evil maid attacks, or otherwise compromise a user's physical machine.
MAC Address	Automatically protect against MAC address fingerprinting on public networks.
Passwords	Make weak passwords stronger.
RAM	Wipe RAM on shut down. See Idea #30076: Enhancy Privacy/Security, Wipe RAM on shut down, reboot and trigger [archive]. Wipe video RAM on shut down. See Tails -erase video memory on shutdown [archive].
Security Updates	Automatically apply security updates. This was a conscious developer decision because automated updates also come with their own set of security problems. However, whonixcheck provides notifications about updates on Whonix-Workstation ™.
Software Attacks	Protect against highly skilled software attacks, unless physical isolation or Qubes-Whonix ™ is utilized.
Stylometry	Obfuscate an individual's linguistic style to defeat stylometric analysis.
Tor	Provide protection by default if Tor is somehow broken. This situation is partially mitigated (with caveats) by chaining Tor with SSH, proxies or VPNs. Disguise the use of Tor by default - it has been assessed this goal is difficult beyond practicality.
User Behavior	Protect those who: fail to read the Documentation, engage in unsafe behaviors, or change default settings without knowing the implications.
Whonix ™ Builds	Have deterministic builds, see Dev/Archived Discussions. [69]

This list is likely incomplete. It is strongly encouraged to read the rest of the Documentation and perhaps the Design chapter to have a full overview of Whonix ™ security, including the list of supported and unsupported features.

Contributors who want to help improve Whonix ™ security should join the discussions on Dev/Archived Discussions, or on the developer mailing list.

Whonix ™ is a Work in Progress[edit]

Whonix ™, as well as all the software it includes, are under continuous development and might contain programming errors or security holes -- Stay Tuned to Whonix ™ development, and do not rely on the platform for strong anonymity.

That said, Whonix ™ has a strong foundational design ^[archive] since it uses both the Isolating Proxy and Transparent Proxy concepts. Since Whonix ™ was founded in 2012, no anonymity leaks or proxy bypass problems have yet been discovered. Whonix ™ has been developed with great care, but it is impossible to ever prove that it is absolutely "leak-proof" or free of mistakes that degrade the goals of the extended project description. (w ^[archive])

Basic functionality is built-in and Whonix ™ can be used to browse the web and host onion services, use email, IRC, SSH, and a host of other activities. Development is ongoing and more features are continually being added. Contributors who want to join the development process are most welcome; see Patches are Welcome. A complete list of open issues is available on the Whonix ™ issues tracker ^[archive].

See also: Whonix ™ Protection Against Real World Attacks, Security Reviews and Feedback and Security Overview.

Unsubstantiated Conclusions[edit]

Users must be careful not to draw incorrect conclusions based on the existence of specific Whonix ™ communication channels, community software utilized, applications installed on the platform, or the availability of certain wiki entries. Whonix ™ tries to use concise language so that users are not misled into believing anything has been implied. Despite this effort, users will sometimes draw false conclusions in an unintended way. Consider the following hypothetical discussion.

Developer: Donations to Whonix ™ are possible via Bitcoin.

Whonix ™ user: Since you are knowledgeable about Bitcoin, can you also accept Monero donations?

In this case the hypothetical developer did not state "I am knowledgeable about Bitcoin", but rather concisely stated "Donations to Whonix ™ are possible via Bitcoin." The conclusion drawn by the user "Since you are knowledgeable about Bitcoin" might be totally unsubstantiated.

In a similar fashion, just because Whonix ™ does something -- like providing a telegram channel ^[archive] -- it does not follow that Whonix ™ endorses it; see also Terms of Service: Non-endorsement. A list of further examples is outlined below.

Table: Facts vs. False Conclusions

Fact [70]	False Conclusion [71]	More Information
Whonix ™ provides a Bitcoin (BTC) donation address.	Bitcoin is anonymous.	Anonymous Money
Whonix ™ provides a Monero (XMR) donation address.	Monero is perfect.	Anonymous Money
The Whonix ™ website is using popular web applications (web apps) like MediaWiki [archive], Phabricator [archive] and Discourse [archive] (forum software).	These are perfectly "secure" (for whatever purpose, threat model) web apps.	In an ideal world, better web apps would be used but this is not possible due to finite Whonix ™ resources. To learn more, see: Privacy on the Whonix ™ Website.
Whonix ™ provides downloadable VirtualBox builds.	VirtualBox is secure.	VirtualBox isn't an ideal choice but there are reasons for maintaining VirtualBox support.
Whonix ™ is available for Windows hosts.	Windows is a suitable host.	Windows Hosts pose numerous security and privacy threats.
Whonix ™ is installable on macOS hosts.	macOS is a suitable host.	macOS Hosts pose numerous security and privacy threats.
Whonix ™ is Freedom Software.	Whonix ™ is a Freedom Software 'maximalist' project.	See also: Policy On Nonfreedom Software; Dev/nonfree; Forum discussion: Whonix host - nonfree blobs - firmware-linux-nonfree [archive]; and Whonix ™ and Free System Distribution Guidelines (GNU FSDG) [archive].
Whonix ™ provides a telegram channel [archive] support channel.	Telegram is a perfect, privacy-respecting, secure messenger.	See footnote. [72]
There is an official Whonix ™ twitter profile [archive].	Twitter is a safe platform to utilize.	Official Whonix ™ Online Profiles
whonix.org has a public forum [archive].	The whonix.org forum and associated comments are intended to promote free speech.	Unfortunately, running a free speech platform is a full-time job and would constitute a separate project in itself. This is simply not possible as a side project. For further details, see: Limitations on Free Speech on Whonix Website ‎and Whonix Chat.
Whonix ™ is Open Source.	Whonix ™ must/should implement all ideas from the community.	See: Community Feedback / Patches are Welcome
		See also: Do Not Draw Wrong Conclusions.

It is also recommended to consult the following resources:

• list of forum posts regarding the Whonix ™ project philosophy ^[archive];
• Linux User Experience versus Commercial Operating Systems; and
• the underpinning Rationale for this chapter.

On top of unsubstantiated conclusions it also happens that adherence to "perfectly moral" behavior or an approved ™ set of political/ideological beliefs is expected from the Whonix ™ project. However, what counts as "perfectly moral" and the path of attaining therein will always be subjective and disputed among proponents. Such demands include "don't allow running Whonix ™ on Windows hosts", "don't have a twitter project account", "don't accept Bitcoin donation", "don't use centralized services such as telegram", "don't document X, because of Y". Those disagreeing with our methods and philosophy are welcome to exercise their right to fork ^[archive] the project under the respective licenses.

Footnotes[edit]

License[edit]

Whonix ™ Warning wiki page Copyright (C) Amnesia <amnesia at boum dot org>
Whonix ™ Warning wiki page Copyright (C) 2012 - 2021 ENCRYPTED SUPPORT LP <adrelanos@whonix.org>

This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details see the wiki source code.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; see the wiki source code for details.

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