Version 17.4 of the Whonix distribution, designed to ensure greater anonymity online, has been released. The system is based on Debian GNU/Linux and transmits all traffic via Tor. The source code is public and released under the GPLv3 license.
The new virtual machine images in OVA format for VirtualBox are available for download : with Xfce (2.3 GB) and console (1.5 GB).
Whonix is based on a two-component scheme. Whonix-Gateway acts as a network gateway, allowing connections only through Tor, while Whonix-Workstation acts as an isolated work environment.
Both systems are included in the same image, but run on different virtual machines. This means that the workstation does not have direct access to the network, and its network settings are always fictitious. Even if the browser is hacked or the attacker gains root access, the real IP address remains hidden.
If Whonix Workstation is compromised, the attacker will only see fake addresses, as real data and DNS requests pass through the gateway. The developers warn that because Whonix is designed to run within a hypervisor, there is a risk of zero-day exploits on virtualization platforms that can provide access to the host system. Therefore, it is not recommended to keep Gateway and Workstation on the same computer.
By default, Whonix-Workstation uses Xfce and includes preinstalled applications: VLC, Tor Browser, Pidgin, and others.
Whonix-Gateway comes with server software, including Apache httpd, nginx, and IRC servers, and also supports connection forwarding via Tor for Freenet, i2p, JonDonym, SSH, and VPN. If desired, you can use the gateway alone, connecting existing workstations, including Windows ones, to it for anonymous Internet access.
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