Are torrents safe? We’ll yes and no. They are safe if the user takes certain precautions when downloading a torrent file. Always and I mean always scan the torrent for a virus with your antivirus, most antiviruses nowadays have an option to simply right click on a file in windows explorer and there’s an option that says scan file. If it comes up clean it most likely is. Torrents currently spread more viruses than any other method on the internet, but if you take precaution you should be safe.
…:::::::::::::::::Torrent Privacy And Safety Guide:::::::::::::::::…
Hi, all.
This is a guide explaining basic means of Bit Torrent safety and obfuscation methods, making it harder for snoopy people on the internet of even nosey ISP’s to interpret BT Traffic and throttle it, or even catch you doing something you shouldn’t! :-p
First of all, I have written this guide solely for BT as I believe it is the only way to file share, considering Bit Torrent potentially consumes at least 60% of all available ISP bandwidth, a lot of people agree with me!
File sharing is making data available for transfer from point A to point B, usually this is done my a P2P means (peer-to-peer), files are stored on and served by personal computers of the users
Let me just make this one point clear, file sharing itself is NOT illegal, when copyrighted material is shared, it is, but when its not, its as legal as going to church, so don’t frown upon BT, all it is, is a data transfer protocol, for getting data from point A to point B.
Let me just make this one point clear, file sharing itself is NOT illegal, when copyrighted material is shared, it is, but when its not, its as legal as going to church, so don’t frown upon BT, all it is, is a data transfer protocol, for getting data from point A to point B.
I am not responsible for what you do with this guide, all I am writing this for is to keep you SAFE!
I believe it is my right to have my privacy, if your neighbour started spying on what you chuck in your wheelie bin, or watching you while you put your clothes on the washing line, you’d be concerned, you may even want to give them a firm smack in the face with the front of a shovel, its not your fault, blame human nature.
So, why is it any different for the world of the internet?, well, its not!
When people start watching what you do, bad things happen, you know…
That’s why it’s your job to stop this happening, I have written this simple guide to help you keep yourself safe when using Bit Torrent, its your choice what you do with it, be it acquire licensed or copy right protected material or whatever, if you do not secure yourself, you will face the consequences of your actions, you can greatly decrease this risk by simply following what is written in this guide, so with all this said, enjoy my friends.
…::::::::::Bit Torrent Protocol Encryption::::::::::…
Protocol encryption (PE) & Message stream encryption (MSE)
PE and MSE are implemented in the BT clients Azureus, µTorrent, BitComet, KTorrent and Mainline.
PE and MSE are protocol obfuscation methods, they use a D-H key exchange combined with the info hash of the torrent to establish the key, then it uses RC4 to encrypt the data.
The D-H key exchange helps to minimize the risk of passive listeners, and the info hash helps avoid man-in-the-middle attacks. RC4 is chosen for its speed. The first kilobyte of the RC4 output is discarded to prevent a particular attack.
The specification allows the users to choose between encrypting the headers only or the full connection. Encrypting the full connection provides more obfuscation but uses more CPU time.
However, only Azureus and µTorrent beta 1.4.1 build 413 or older lets the user choose. All other clients default to full encryption.
To ensure compatibility with other clients that don’t support this specification, users may also choose whether unencrypted incoming or outgoing connections are still allowed.
To ensure compatibility with other clients that don’t support this specification, users may also choose whether unencrypted incoming or outgoing connections are still allowed.
All supported clients will enable encryption automatically if they receive an encrypted incoming connection even if outgoing encryption is disabled.
Now, how to do all of this:
If you are using Azureus:
1 .Go to: Tools > Options > Connection > Transport Encryption
2. Check the ‘require encrypted transport’ box.
3. Choose RC4 in the ‘minimum encryption’ dropdown box
(***RC4 uses more CPU time than the plain encryption or no encryption, but it’s a lot more effective**)
4. You can choose to tick the ‘Allow non-encrypted outgoing connections if encrypted connection attempt fails’ box.
This will ensure compatibility with clients that are not using encryption.
This will ensure compatibility with clients that are not using encryption.
However, it makes it easier for your ISP to detect Bit Torrent traffic. Its recommend that you try to tick this box first. If you are still not getting proper speeds untick it.
5. Tick the ‘Allow non-encrypted incoming connections’ box
Done.
If you are using BitComet:
1. Go to: Options > Preferences > Advanced > Connection
2 .Go to: ‘Protocol encryption’ You can choose between ‘auto detect’ and ‘always’. Auto detect will give you more connections but offers less protection against traffic shapers.
Its recommend to try auto detect first, if that doesn’t increase your speeds you need to switch to always.
Its recommend to try auto detect first, if that doesn’t increase your speeds you need to switch to always.
Done.
If you are using µTorrent:
1. Go to: Options > Preferences > Bittorrent
2. Go to ‘Protocol encryption’, you can choose between ‘enabled’ and ‘forced’. ‘Enabled’ will give you more connections but offers less protection against traffic shapers.
Its recommend to try ‘enabled’ first, if that doesn’t increase your speeds you need to swich to ‘forced’.
Its recommend to try ‘enabled’ first, if that doesn’t increase your speeds you need to swich to ‘forced’.
3. Ticking ‘Allow legacy incoming connections’ allows non ecrypted clients to connect to you. This improves compatibility between clients but makes you more vulnerable to traffic shapers.
I would recommend to tick this box, but if that doesn’t increase your speeds, untick it!
Done.
You have now achieved a superior level of anomnity whilst using Bit Torrent, but we aren’t finished there, theres still a little left, the hardest part is done though, I ensure you.
…::::::::::P2P “Firewall’s::::::::::…
What these do is simple, they block out the Ip’s of known anti p2p companys and the like to stop them from connecting to us and see us transferring data, keep the lists updated and you’ll be fine.
PeerGaurdian 2:
http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/
Protowall
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Too…ProtoWall.shtml
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So, if you have followed my guide, you have now achieved a high level of privacy, you may have also saved youself from a nasty e-mail or two from your ISP, or maybe even the RIAA or MPAA 
Enjoy this guide and torrent safely, your questions and complements are welcome, use this information to your benefit.
-Rav
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**Warning**: This is about the closest you can get to max privacy, however it is not 100%, I think its important you know this (cheers The_Fiend for mentioning this).
