Configure the Admin Workstation Post-Install¶
Auto-connect to the Authenticated Tor Hidden Services¶
The SecureDrop installation process adds multiple layers of authentication to protect access to the most sensitive assets in the SecureDrop system:
- The Journalist Interface, because it provides access to submissions (although they are encrypted to an offline key), and some metadata about sources and submissions.
- SSH on the Application Server
- SSH on the Monitor Server
The installation process blocks direct access to each of these assets, and sets
up Authenticated Tor Hidden Services (ATHS) to provide authenticated access
instead. Authenticated Tor Hidden Services share the benefits of Tor Hidden
Services, but are only accessible to users who possess a shared secret
(auth-cookie
in the Tor documentation) that is generated during the hidden
service setup process.
In order to access an ATHS, you need to add one or more “auth-cookie” values
to your Tor configuration file (torrc
) and restart Tor. Doing this manually
is annoying and error-prone, so SecureDrop includes a set of scripts in
./tails_files
that can set up a Tails instance to automatically
configure Tor to access a set of ATHS. In order to persist these changes across
reboots, the Tails instance must have persistence enabled (specifically, the
“dotfiles persistence”).
Note
Starting in version 0.3.7, SecureDrop requires Tails 2.x or greater.
To install the auto-connect configuration, start by navigating to the directory
with these scripts (~/Persistent/securedrop/
), and run the install script:
./securedrop-admin tailsconfig
Type the Administration Password that you selected when starting Tails and hit
Enter. This script installs a persistent script that runs every time you
connect to a network in Tails, and automatically configures access to
the Journalist Interface and to the servers via SSH. The HidServAuth info is
collected from files in
~/Persistent/securedrop/install_files/ansible-base
and stored in
~/Persistent/.securedrop/torrc_additions
thereafter.
Tip
Copy the files app-journalist-aths
and app-source-ths
to
the Transfer Device in preparation for setting up the Journalist
Workstation. Then you can use the securedrop-admin
tool to configure
access for Journalists as well.
In addition, the script creates desktop and menu shortcuts for the Source and Journalist Interfaces, directs Tails to install Ansible at the beginning of every session, and sets up SSH host aliases for the servers.
The only thing you need to remember to do is enable persistence when you boot the Admin Workstation. If you are using the Admin Workstation and are unable to connect to any of the authenticated hidden services, restart Tails and make sure to enable persistence.
Set up two-factor authentication for the Admin¶
The SecureDrop servers should always be accessed over SSH from the Admin Workstation. In the event of a connectivity problem, Admins can log in directly to the servers by attaching a keyboard and a display. In order to do so, you will need to configure 2FA TOTP access.