Web security everywhere

The Web Security Everywhere device could be many very different devices, depending the features I add to it.

I have a few differents prototypes already, but I need your opinion about which one you prefer.

So I've set up a Doodle online poll for you to give your opinion about various features :

http://doodle.com/nuik8466acpgynm2

Feel free to add any comments !

Everything started a few years ago. I was the computer tech guy in a company, and did some computer maintenance. Unfortunately, the corporate hardware firewall was so restrictive, I couldn't access my own remote computers, in order to do my job... Funny situation.

So, after a few months requesting some firewall rules and nothing, I decided to find another solution. I discovered I could install a VPN server at home and connect to it using a special, almost always open port. Then I could forward my home internet connection, and access my remote computers (my home network as well)

I used this method during the following years, using a laptop, in various occasions. Then, Raspberry Pi came out and I could eventually build a standalone box. Just after this decision, the NSA/Snowden story came out and I decided to build my own secure internet device.

The software and hardware parts constantly evolved since then, here are the major variations until now.

May, 2013

This one was fully automatic, with 2 bicolors leds only there for status.

June, 2013

Fully automatic no more, but there is now a tiny screen, and I could navigate the interface using a wireless xbox360 controller (no so open source device, I agree with that)

June, 2013

No more xbox controller, but a small perfboard PCB to hold the tiny TFT + navigation buttons.

July, 2013

This one is the first public version. I made it to present it to the 2013 Libre Software Meeting (LSM) in Bruxells.

2013, August

Time for a python script rework...

2013, August

Ok, let's move to a custom "enclosure", more of a platform. I needed some easy access and a prototyping area.

2013, September

This one was the first version with 2.8" touchscreen. This one could rotate the front panel, came with an Arduino on breadboard and some electronics. It was some great fun to build and use.

2014, April

This one was made for a public presentation at the Fêtons Linux Geneva convention. This is the initial model I submitted to the HackaDayPrize.

There was a new python script rework.

2014, July

First major rework for the HackaDayPrize

2014, August

Second major rework for the HackaDayPrize. This one is really autonomous, thanks to the PiModules UPiS board and enclosure.

I planned some more major evolutions until the final device. I build/code the different evolutions when I have some new things to add, and a lot more is definitely coming.

Hi ! Many thanks to everyone involved, for me being here now !

This project started a few years ago with a very real need, but I couldn't imagine it could eventually bring me into space... I put it here just with hopes to collect some feedback about it, have some fun, and nothing more. Today, here I am. That's truly amazing, I don't have the words to express the feeling...

I've read every comments in the 50 SemiFinalists article, some people there are very wrong, and very negative : I'm alone on this project, from start. There's no team behind me, no money. Just many ideas and a strong desire to build the things that populate my brain. Sure, some people help me in many ways, but I don't even have a 3D printer or a laser cutter around. So, being in semi-finals with a one-man garage project was very possible. I'm sure other selected projects are the same.

For sure, being here right now is an immense motivation for me. I worked on this project long before the contest, would have worked on it months after, but being there is an opportunity I won't miss. :)

Now, about the updates. I want to talk about the incoming new evolutions. First, 2 major versions, Raspberry Pi based, were planned and are about to come :

• A new, major hardware upgrade is in the works, thanks to the PiModules UPiS. This excellent piece of hardware allows this new version to be trully autonomous. No more external USB battery, except to charge the unit itself. 2600mAh should be enough for a few hours of juice, and 10000mAh external should charge the unit a few times. Plus it allows "electrical hotplug", so no more need to power off the Pi to change powering method. It also has a onboard RTC, very handy for networking stuff (TOR needs the current hour/date to start correctly, for an example). Unfortunately, the UPiS HAT for the new Raspberry Pi B+ is not out yet, so I will have to wait a few weeks for it. No problem, code is compatible across the boards, so I will have one more prototype to work with.

• So, another major upgrade will include the Raspberry Pi B+ and the new UPiS+ not out yet. The 4 ports USB and the new powering circuit are very nice updates to the Raspberry Pi and very handy in this project.

There's also something else I'm working on : if you visit hardware-libre.fr weblog, you now I love Raspberry Pi, but I also fell in love with another board : the Banana Pi. I know many people criticize this board and the people behind it, but I know them "a little" now. They are some very nice people, and their Banana Pi design is very smart. I will develop this later for sure.

With that in mind, I want this project to remain compatible with Raspberry AND Banana in the end (fruits are good for health). The final user will be free to choose which board he prefers, the two different versions will be buildable using the same sources. Raspberry Pi version would be smaller and mobile, but less powerfull. Banana Pi based would be far more powerful, but bigger and less autonomous with its SATA hard disk (think about a desktop device with a bigger screen). 

I'd be very interested to know what you all think about this idea...

Now, some picture of this last (very busy) day :

UPiS, displays, Raspberries, Bananas.... this is a fruity desktop :)

With time and the right tools, I don't really need a CNC or 3D printer.... Well, forget that.... I really need one :D

No more cable !!! Yeepee !!!

Enough hardware for today, now is time for some software... UPiS module offers many nice features I want to add to my software...

To comply with the next round requirements (I hope so), I just terminated posting several documentations :

• software bits and librairies
• a basic system design PDF
• a very basic install instructions
• licences

I'm still in my very remote location for vacations. I still have no internet except a very random 3G data mobile network. This little bit of outside world allows me to post, thanks to the Web Security Box (I may find a more adapted name ^^).

It gives our 2 laptops and 2 smartphones some wifi, an almost stable (but slow) internet, access to our home network thanks to the OpenVPN part, and a 1 TO network storage (to store our vacations pictures, some movies, and some random stuff). I will move this last part on a real embed owncloud (again). 

One more time, this box proved itself to be really usefull.

The Box, my Android smartphone giving data 3G to it using USB tethering, and the network drive.

Main status interface. We have wifi + ethernet access point, internet forwarding via the android USB tethering.

Same one, but with OpenVPN actually connected. The public IP is blurred, but for sure this is my home network :)

For two weeks, I'm on vacations in a far, very remote location. There's almost nothing kilometers around except trees, we barely have electricity and water, but it's what we need.

However to assume some urgent work, I need internet. The only way to have it is using my mobile data plan. 3G coverage is very limited, but possible.

So I bring my mobile AP, enabled 3g/wifi tethering on my android smartphone, connected the access point to it and added a DNS proxy filter/banlist using adblocks and hosts lists to the AP to lower the bandwith. It's working very well. I just had to plug everything and it works like a charm.

Internet 3G - Android - Wifi - Filtered Mobile Access Point - Wifi - Computers

USB tethering also works but seems less stable, I will have to find the reason.

I will have to find a better connection to upload some pictures, though...

I officially abandonned the previous food box enclosure for a better looking one.

It is made by hand from plexiglas sheet.

It still needs a lot of work, but so far I'm happy with the results.

Here is a demonstration video using the new B+ board and some parts of the new custom enclosure. The latter is far from being terminated yet, as I'm making it using a saw and a handheld rotary tool.

UnJailPi just moved to a new board : the Raspberry Pi B+.

Because of the new 4 ports USB hub and the improved powering circuit, I could get rid of the old and ugly USB hub. I used it to power the Pi via the GPIO header, with some custom connectors to prevent backfeeding the USB or some nasty loops.

I don't need the ugly food box "enclosure" anymore and could start building a better one. This one will be made using some transparent plexiglas sheet. I don't own a CNC, so I'll do it by hand, using a saw and a handheld rotary tool...

This is not the final planned move across boards. Ultimately, I'd like to use the Banana Pi and a 2.5" SATA hard drive so I could move on the embeded cloud road. The Raspberry Pi is far from being the perfect board for this use : no onboard SATA, limited computing power. However for the moment I didn't succeed in building the kernel to support the TFT touchscreen on the Banana Pi.