Okay.
So now that we know that the normal file sharing services are not great when sharing sensitive files,
even if they use end to end encryption.
In this lecture, I want to show you a more private method to share files.
Now this method is peer to peer.
Now, remember we said the main problem was not about encryption, but it was the fact that our files
were stored somewhere that we have no control on.
So in the method that I'm going to show you in this lecture, our files will not be stored in a server
that we don't control.
It's going to be stored locally, it's going to be peer to peer.
So the file will be shared from our computer to the computer of the person that we want to share the
file with.
It's going to use end to end encryption.
It's going to benefit from the anonymity offered by the Tor network.
Therefore, it's going to be more private and more anonymous.
In this method, we're going to be using a tool called Onionshare.
And to put this simply, the way this will work is it will create an onion service on your computer
so others can access this onion service and download your file so you can think of it as if it's creating
a dark web website on your local computer.
And this website can only be used to download the files that you specify.
To make this simpler, you can think of this the as the user that wants to download your file.
And we all have seen this diagram of the Tor network and how when you try to access a hidden service,
you go over three nodes.
The user that you want to share the file with will end at an onion service that is sharing your file.
And this onion service is running from your own local computer.
So the file is shared directly from your computer and you can shut down this sharing service whenever
you want, whenever you feel that you don't want to share the file anymore, or whenever you feel like
your connection is being compromised.
So as you can see in this example, we are not uploading our file to a server that we do not own or
do not control.
Therefore, it fixes the main issue with the method that I showed you with the Firefox service and it
benefits from all of the encryption implemented by the Tor network.
Therefore, it's more private, more secure and more anonymous.
Now doing this is actually very, very simple entails.
So let me show you.
I'm back at my file manager.
I have the picture or the file that I want to share right here.
And all you have to do is right click this file and click on Share via Onionshare.
As you can see, this will open the onion share window for you.
You can see the file that I selected is already in here and you can click on Add files to add more files
to share with a specific person and you can use the delete to delete files.
Once you're happy with the files that you want to share, we're going to click on Start Sharing.
And right now, when you see the yellow.in here, this means that Onionshare is creating and starting
the onion service that will share the files for you.
So you want to be patient with this.
It might take some time.
And once this is done, as you can see, the circle will turn green and you will see a link to a hidden
service.
So you can see this looks very, very similar to the links that we use when accessing Darknet websites.
You can click on copy URL to copy it and then you can share this link with anybody that you want to
share the file with.
So you can send it via email or you can send it using an instant message.
So I'm going to go to a second computer.
We're going to pretend that this is the recipient computer.
I'm going to paste the link in here.
Now keep in mind this is a hidden service or an onion service link, so it can only be accessed using
the Tor browser or using a computer that is configured to use the TOR network.
So this service is only accessible within the TOR network.
As you can see, once this loads, you will get a very simple page.
It has the file name, it has the size, and if you click on download it will download the file for
you and this will automatically go to the Tor browser directory.
I'm going to click on Save and Perfect.
The download is complete and we can verify this by going here.
And as you can see, we have the image that we wanted to share.
Now, if you actually go back to the computer that started sharing, you will see that in the status
bar.
It's telling us stopped sharing the file automatically because someone has downloaded the file.
So now if anyone tries to access this link, this page will not load.
Therefore, you have full control over the files that you want to share.
You can start and stop sharing them any time you want.
The files will not be placed in any computer that you do not have control on, so it will only be placed
on your computer and you'll benefit from towards anonymity and privacy.
Therefore, this is a much more private method of sharing sensitive files.