[Nottingham] Web browsing through SSH tunnel

[Camilo Mesias]

Danny

> If I'm running a web proxy that uses a SSH tunnel from localhost to a
> computer somewhere else on the Internet, can my network overlords spy
> on me? Can anyone else spy on me? Could a local user on localhost spy
> on me?

Sort of.

The network admins could notice that you are sending/receiving a lot
of data on a ssh connection to that computer somewhere else, and what
the usage pattern is.

Other users on localhost could use ps to see what your ssh command is,
possibly finding out the local port you are using. A privileged local
user would be able to sniff your unencrypted web traffic on that port.
(try it as root, eg. tcpdump -A -s 0 -i lo port 8080). The same
applies to other users on the remote computer. There even unprivileged
users might  be able to see what sites you are surfing by using
netstat or similar commands.

-Cam