Feb 07, 2021 10:00:00

Signal publishes 'proxy construction method' that makes services available even in censored countries

The messenger app '

Signal ', which is known for its extremely high confidentiality, has released a proxy construction method that makes it possible to use the service even in countries where the use of Signal is restricted by censorship. It's easy to build with just a free service, so I actually built it.

Signal >> Blog >> Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal
https://signal.org/blog/help-iran-reconnect/

Due to its high confidentiality, Signal has a history of being unavailable due to censorship in some countries . The Iranian government has censored Signal even at the time of writing the article, and the proxy built this time can circumvent that censorship.

Ever since Signal simultaneously hit # 1 on the ???????? Play Store and # 1 on the ???????? government's block list, we've been working around ?????????? censorship.

Unable to stop registration, the IR censors are now dropping all Signal traffic.

Iranian people deserve privacy. We haven't given up.
— Signal (@signalapp) January 25, 2021

The following items are required to build a Signal proxy.

-Servers that can use ports 80 and 443
-Domain associated with the IP address of the server

This time, in order to build a proxy at zero cost, I used a GCP 'f1.micro' instance as a server and acquired a domain with Freenom .

First, log in to the server and install Docker, Docker Compose, and Git.

[code] sudo apt update && sudo apt install docker docker-compose git [/ code]

A large number of packages will be installed.

After the installation is complete, download the files needed to build the proxy from Signal's GitHub repository.

[code] git clone https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-TLS-Proxy.git [/ code]

After the download is complete, move to the repository directory.

[code] cd Signal-TLS-Proxy [/ code]

Run the script and use Let's Encrypt to get the TLS certificate.

[code] sudo ./init-certificate.sh [/ code]

At runtime, you will be prompted to enter the domain, so enter the domain you have prepared.

Finally, start the container with the docker-compose command, and the proxy construction is complete.

[code] sudo docker-compose up --detach [/ code]

Next, access 'https://signal.tube/#set domain name' from the Android browser that uses Signal. At the time of writing the article, only the beta version of Android is supported, but it will be supported in the official version in a few days.

When you access it, the following page will be displayed, so tap 'Configure Signal Proxy'. The Signal app will start automatically.