Anonymizing hostname

[Dominique St-Pierre Boucher]

Hello,

I have setup the mac address change for qubes 3.2 with debian 9 as my sys-net.

I am trying to figure out a way to randomize the hostname that is sent to the DHCP server. This is in an effort to minimize the risk of os identification.

Can you help?

Can you think of anything else to protect the id of the OS?

Thanks

Dominique

[Steve Coleman]

On 02/27/2017 03:48 PM, Dominique St-Pierre Boucher wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have setup the mac address change for qubes 3.2 with debian 9 as my sys-net.
>
> I am trying to figure out a way to randomize the hostname that is sent to the DHCP server. This is in an effort to minimize the risk of os identification.

I'm not quite sure why you need to hide you hostname on your local DHCP
network. Is the purpose so that you "feel" more hidden? Anyone running
p0f on your local network will guess your OS regardless of your
IP/MAC/hostname randomization, and people outside your domain won't have
your MAC or DHCP hostname, just your IP unless you/IT publish your name
through DNS to the outside.


But, You could try:

sys-net>$ nmcli general hostname
<<< mine was empty
sys-net>$ sudo nmcli general hostname xyzpdq.nowhere.com
sys-net>$ sudo systemctl restart systemd-hostnamed
sys-net>$ nmcli general hostname
xyzpdq.nowhere.com
sys-net>$ cat /etc/hostname
xyzpdq.nowhere.com


You may need to disconnect and reconnect to get the DHCP server lease to
acknowledge a change. Mine did not propagate to DNS right away but
eventually did.

nmcli --help

> Dominique
>

[haaber]

On 02/28/2017 05:24 PM, Steve Coleman wrote:
> On 02/27/2017 03:48 PM, Dominique St-Pierre Boucher wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have setup the mac address change for qubes 3.2 with debian 9 as my
>> sys-net.
>>
>> I am trying to figure out a way to randomize the hostname that is
>> sent to the DHCP server. This is in an effort to minimize the risk of
>> os identification.
>
> I'm not quite sure why you need to hide you hostname on your local
> DHCP network. Is the purpose so that you "feel" more hidden? Anyone
> running p0f on your local network will guess your OS regardless of
> your IP/MAC/hostname randomization, and people outside your domain
> won't have your MAC or DHCP hostname, just your IP unless you/IT
> publish your name through DNS to the outside.
>
>
> But, You could try:
>
> sys-net>$ nmcli general hostname
> <<< mine was empty
> sys-net>$ sudo nmcli general hostname xyzpdq.nowhere.com
> sys-net>$ sudo systemctl restart systemd-hostnamed
> sys-net>$ nmcli general hostname
> xyzpdq.nowhere.com
> sys-net>$ cat /etc/hostname
> xyzpdq.nowhere.com
>
>

Inspired by your exchange I tried to repeat at least the mac-spoof
procedure (following
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/anonymizing-your-mac-address/ ). Since I
use an enriched f-24-minimal
I opted for macchanger .. it works well for my ethernet, but won't touch
the wireless mac address. Bizarre! I first searched a typo, but can't
find one. May this be a firmware problem (iwlwifi for Intel 7260)? How
to log the problem ?? Thank you, Bernhard

[Dominique St-Pierre Boucher]

Thanks for your code. I will try to use it with /dev/urandom to generate a random hostname...

I will post my findings

Dominique