How to setup proxychains for 100% anonymity [Step-by-Step... https://www.golinuxcloud.

com/setup-proxychains-kali-linux/

Written By - KENNEDY MUTHII Reviewed By - DEEPAK PRASAD

Updated On January 1, 2024

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Pre-requisites
Proxychains features
Step 1: Getting proxies to setup proxychains
Step 2: Using proxychains
Step 3: Adding proxies to the proxy list
Types of chains in proxychain
Step 4: Avoiding dns leak
Step 5: Running proxychains

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Conclusion

Hello learners, in this guide we will setup proxychains when using the internet to ensure anonymity.
Proxychains is a tool used by both black hat and white hat hackers to carry out their daily duties. White
hat hackers use proxychains to expose system vulnerabilities that would have been exploited by the
black hats. Malicious hackers setup proxychains to help cover their identities and bypass intrusion
detection systems.

When a hacker attacks a system using proxychains, the intermediary IP address is left on the target
system. This makes it difficult for forensic experts to trace the source of the attack. A proxy serves as
an intermediary between the attacking computer and the target computer. i.e. Hackers will setup
proxychains with nmap when scanning their target hosts to hide their identities from law enforcement
agencies and the host security.

1. Have Kali linux installed.

2. Have knowledge of using the terminal.

3. Have an editor installed. (In this guide we will use a terminal based tool nano )

• Proxychains allows us to use different types of proxies in the proxy list. The proxies don’t have
to be in any order.ie. Different proxies can be mixed.

• It has and supports different chaining methods. Proxychains use three types of chains; string
chain, random chain and dynamic chain method also known as smart option.

• Proxychains have support for HTTP, SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 5 proxy servers.

• DNS resolving through proxy is possible when using proxychains.

• Different TCP client applications can be handled when using proxychains.

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We need to get proxies to add in our proxychains configuration. The internet is a good source for free
proxy services. We will be using proxyscrape to get free proxies for this tutorial. Proxyscrape has
options to choose depending on what you want to use to ensure anonymity as shown on the image
below.

In our case, we will be using SOCKS4 proxies for our proxylist. As you can see above, I have filtered
proxies so that I am left with proxies that have a timeout of 50ms or lower. A lower timeout helps
increase the speed of the connection.

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We need to setup proxychains before we can use it. To edit and add new proxies to our proxy list, we
need to edit found on our system. To open proxychains.conf we will use “nano”
which is a command line text editor tool using the below command.

Once we run the above command, we will be able to edit and add proxies to use in our proxy list.

We have our downloaded proxies list. We will copy them to our proxychain.conf for us to use them as
shown below. By default, traffic is sent through 127.0.0.1 on port 9050 which is a default Tor
configuration hence it should be commented out when we are not using Tor as we setup proxychains.

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In the configuration file, we have three different types of chaining to use when we setup proxychains.
Each working different from the other as expalined below.

1. – In dynamic chain dead proxies will be skipped, all other proxies will be used in
the chain.

2. - Strict chain uses all the proxies in the list in order. No proxy is skipped.

3. – random combination of proxies in the proxies list is used. A user can be able
to specify the number of proxies to be used. It is prefferred for Intrusion Detection Testing.

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In order to use any of the chains, we have to edit them in the configuration file while we setup
proxychains. We can also uncomment the as it helps us determine the number of proxies to
use anytime we use proxychains.

We will be using dynamic chain so we edit our configuration to use dynamic chain and remove the
default strict chain as shown in the image below by removing and adding “ # ”.

While using proxychains, a dns leak may expose your real identity. To avoid such a scenario,
proxychains has an option “ proxy_dns ” which helps avoid identity leaks. If the proxy_dns option is not
active, dns will be resolved normally using your system and when active it will redirect dns resolution
making it fairly more complicated.

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After we finish to setup proxychains, we are now ready to use it to ensure anonymity as we scan our
target host. We will add the command “proxychains” on each command we run targeting our host. For
example, if we want to run a scan against our host using nmap, we will use the below command.

bash

proxychains nmap [host]

In this guide we have been able to setup proxychains to ensure our anonymity. Free proxy servers have
been used to illustrate how to use proxychains. It should be noted that although free proxies will help
to make you anonymous, it is recommended not to share personal information while using free
proxies since we do not know who has control of the proxy servers our information is going through
before it reaches its destination.

Sharing your personal information may lead to identity theft and other related online frauds.

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As we setup proxychains, we should also check and remove the dead proxies and those that have a
higher timeout to ensure the internet speed is relatively fast. It is recommended that we use private
proxies. In some sophisticated attacks, the hackers use a pivoting method to attack systems which
are not directly connected to the internet. A hacker will look for a machine within that system which is
directly connected to the internet and use it at a pivot to attack the system.

Cyber laws will differ depending with the country where a proxy server is located. Using many proxy
servers while we setup proxychains from around the world will make it difficult for law enforcement to
trace an attacker due to differing cyber laws and jurisdiction used in different countries.

He is an accomplished professional proficient in Python, ethical hacking, Linux, cybersecurity, and

OSINT. With a track record including winning a national cybersecurity contest, launching a startup
in Kenya, and holding a degree in information science, he is currently engaged in cutting-edge
research in ethical hacking. You can connect with him on LinkedIn .

Ethical hacking

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