How to anonymize your Linux system with Whoami

This article will show you how to install Whoami and run some of its modules to anonymize your Ubuntu system.

Note: Don't confuse this with the whoami command which displays the current user's username. Additionally, Whoami works with any Debian and Arch-based distribution.

Install Whoami

The first step to get the Whoami toolkit is to update your Ubuntu system and download the toolkit's dependencies from apt:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade sudo apt install tor curl python3 python3-scapy network-manager git make

Fetch the Whoami Git repository from the developer's Github page:

git clone https://github.com/owerdogan/whoami-project.git

Create the folders that Whoami Makefile expects on your system:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/kali-menu/applications

Install the software toolkit onto your system by running make:

cd ./whoami-project sudo make install

Check that you have installed the correct toolkit onto your system by running the following command:

sudo kali-whoami --status

Use Whomami to anonymize your Ubuntu system

Once Whoami is up and running, you can now start enhancing your existing Ubuntu session. To do this, run the Whoami toolkit with the --start flag:

sudo kali-whoami --start

This will create a restore point for your machine as well as load all the modules for Whoami in your current terminal session.

Change the hostname of the machine

One of the easiest to use enhancement modules in Whoami is the 'Hostname changer' tool. This allows you to change your system name, which can be useful if you're using a public WiFi network.

To get started, type '7' then press Enter. This will add a new checkmark next to the 'Hostname changer' label.

Press Enter to confirm the new settings, then reboot the computer to apply the changes.

Confirm that your computer is now using a different hostname by opening a new terminal session.

To disable the modified hostname, run the --stop flag with the Whoami script, then reboot your machine.

sudo kali-whoami --stop sudo reboot

Change the machine's IP address

In addition to changing your system's hostname, you can also use Whoami to route your local traffic through the Tor transparent proxy. This gives you an extra layer of protection by changing the IP address you broadcast to your destination website.

To do this, disable the default ufw firewall for your system:

sudo systemctl disable --now ufw.service

Run the Whoami script with sudo privileges:

sudo kali-whoami --start

Type '3', then press Enter to toggle the script's IP change module.

Press Enter again to enable the IP change module on your current session.

Note: Enabling the IP address change module will disable Internet connectivity for command line programs.

Check if your system is currently reporting a different external IP address by loading the IP address checker website.

To disable Tor transparent proxy, run the Whoami script followed by the --stop flag:

sudo kali-whoami --stop

Change the DNS resolver on the computer

DNS resolvers can pose a privacy risk, especially if you're browsing on a public network where you don't know who is resolving web addresses for you. That means the Whoami toolkit comes with a module that changes your machine's DNS resolver to a privacy-respecting alternative.

To use this feature, run the toolkit script with sudo privileges:

sudo kali-whoami --start

Type '4', then press Enter.

Press Enter again to apply the new settings to your machine.

Refresh the system DNS cache by running the following command:

resolvectl flush-caches

Confirm that your machine is currently using Whoami's alternate DNS resolver by performing a dig query:

dig maketecheasier.com | grep "SERVER:"

Protects the system from cold reboots

In addition to anonymizing your machine from network-related attacks, the Whoami script can also protect your system from anyone directly snooping on its system files.

To do this, run the Whoami script with sudo privileges:

sudo kali-whoami --start

Type '2', then press Enter.

This will require the script to automatically delete all log files in the system before shutting down.

Type '9', then press Enter.

The 'Anti-Cold Boot' module forces the system to wipe data inside the active memory before shutting down the system. This will prevent anyone from reading any important content from your device's memory at startup.

Press Enter to make changes and activate the modules.

Enhance Firefox browser with Whoami

Although web browsers act as a bridge between you and the Internet, they are one of the biggest privacy risks on Linux machines. The Whoami script mitigates this problem by providing a privacy-oriented 'user.js' file, which greatly enhances the basic Firefox ESR installation process.

To do this, close Firefox ESR and then run the Whoami script with sudo privileges:

sudo kali-whoami --start

Type '8', then press Enter.

Press Enter again to enable the Browser Hardening module in your system.

Make a backup of the default user.js file on your system, then replace it with the script from Whoami:

sudo cp /etc/firefox-esr/syspref.js /etc/firefox-esr/syspref.js.bak sudo mv /etc/firefox-esr/whoami.js /etc/firefox-esr/syspref.js

Confirm that your new user.js file is working properly by opening Firefox and visiting 'about:config'.

Click 'Accept the Risk and Continue', then type Privacy.firstparty.isolate in the site's search bar. This implementation will return a boolean variable with the value 'true'.

Learning how to anonymize your Ubuntu system with Whoami is just the first step to protecting your digital privacy. Explore the wonderful world of security-oriented distributions by installing some of the best Linux-libre systems available today!

Marvin Fry

Update 27 February 2024