After more than a year of development, the Tor project has released the OnionShare 2.3 utility, which allows you to securely and anonymously transfer and receive files, as well as organize a public file sharing service. The project code is written in Python and distributed under the GPLv3 license. Ready packages are prepared for Ubuntu, Fedora, Windows and macOS.
OnionShare runs a web server running as a Tor hidden service on the local system and makes it available to other users. To access the server, an unpredictable onion address is generated, which acts as an entry point for organizing file exchange (for example, "http://ash4...pajf2b.onion/slug", where slug are two random words to enhance security). To download or send files to other users, just open this address in the Tor Browser. Unlike sending files by email or through services such as Google Drive, DropBox and WeTransfer, the OnionShare system is self-sufficient, does not require access to external servers and allows you to transfer a file without intermediaries directly from your computer.
Other participants in the file sharing do not need to install OnionShare, just the usual Tor Browser and one instance of OnionShare for one of the users is enough. Forwarding confidentiality is achieved by secure transmission of the address, for example, using the end2end encryption mode in the messenger. After the transfer is completed, the address is deleted immediately, i.e. you will not be able to transfer the file a second time in normal mode (you need to use a separate public mode). A graphical interface is provided on the side of the server running on the user's system to manage sent and received files, as well as to control data transfer.
Main innovations:
- Implemented support for tabs that allow you to simultaneously perform several actions in the program. It supports running four types of services in tabs: providing access to your files, getting third-party files, managing a local site, and chatting. For each service, you can open multiple tabs, for example, you can run multiple local sites and create multiple chats. After a restart, previously opened tabs are saved and linked to the same OnionShare address.
- Added the ability to create secure one-time chat rooms for anonymous communication without saving the history of correspondence. Chat access is provided based on a sample OnionShare address that can be sent to participants with whom you need to discuss something. You can connect to the chat without having to install OnionShare by simply opening the sent address in the Tor Browser. Chat messages are encrypted using end-to-end encryption implemented on the basis of standard Tor onion services without the invention of additional encryption mechanisms.
As a possible area of ββββapplication of the built-in chat, there are situations in which something needs to be discussed without leaving traces - in ordinary messengers there is no guarantee that the sent message will be deleted by the recipient and will not settle in intermediate storage and disk cache. In the OnionShare chat, messages are only displayed and are not saved anywhere. OnionShare Chat can also be used to organize quick chats without creating accounts or when you need to ensure the anonymity of a participant.
- Expanded options for working with OnionShare from the command line without launching the graphical interface. The command line interface is separated into a separate onionshare-cli application, which can also be used on servers without a monitor. All basic operations are supported, for example, to create a chat, you can run the command "onionshare-cli -chat", to create a site - "onionshare-cli -website", and to receive a file - "onionshare-cli -receive".
Source: opennet.ru