{"action":"created","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1213","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1213/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1213/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1213/events","html_url":"https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1213","id":119552266,"number":1213,"title":"Send OSSEC alerts using SMTP over Tor","user":{"login":"fowlslegs","id":3538418,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/3538418?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs","html_url":"https://github.com/fowlslegs","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/fowlslegs/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[],"state":"open","locked":false,"assignee":null,"milestone":null,"comments":9,"created_at":"2015-11-30T18:33:49Z","updated_at":"2015-11-30T20:25:07Z","closed_at":null,"body":"As we will be using OSSEC in the near, foreseeable future (see #1123), it would be good if we continued our efforts to keep hidden services hidden (as in #1204) by sending OSSEC alert emails using SMTP over Tor.\r\n\r\nThis suggestion is following from https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/pull/1211#issuecomment-160693100.\r\n\r\nI disagree with the idea to use Pond because:\r\n\r\n* Pond is very experimental software.\r\n* Use of Pond itself in combination with certain other activity can be indicative of a SecureDrop instance. Issues of unaudited code aside, anonymity systems work best when huge numbers of people use them regularly.\r\n* If admins have to boot into Tails to check Pond, they may as well SSH into the monitor server and check OSSEC manually. Otherwise, they have to have to install Pond on their workstations--not too bad on Linux, PITA on OS X, \"impossible\" on Windows.\r\n* Requires significant modification to OSSEC alerts system.\r\n\r\nOTOH, I agree with the idea to use SMTP over Tor because:\r\n\r\n* It hides the nature of the data leaving the monitor server (i.e., that we're sending email).\r\n* It requires little modification of existing system.\r\n* Allows use of hidden service IMAP and SMTP servers for added security--authentication and encryption layers.\r\n* If both the OSSEC alert email and the Admin email are created anonymously over Tor (and always used over Tor), the identity of both the monitor server and the SD instance administrator can be protected."},"comment":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/comments/160751324","html_url":"https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1213#issuecomment-160751324","issue_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/1213","id":160751324,"user":{"login":"conorsch","id":657862,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/657862?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch","html_url":"https://github.com/conorsch","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/conorsch/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"created_at":"2015-11-30T20:25:07Z","updated_at":"2015-11-30T20:25:07Z","body":"@fowlslegs Support for Gmail's relays is extremely important, since small orgs without their own mail servers often use Gmail. We'll need to text extensively to make sure we're not breaking anything by routing over Tor. \r\n\r\nWhen creating new accounts, Google triggers step-up verification if you try to create over Tor. My hunch is they won't take kindly to accepting mail from Tor, at least not without routinely triggering step-up verification—which will break the sending of notifications until the admin reauths in a web browser if true. "}}