TrueNAS + Monero + Tor + I2P = Darknet Privacy Upgrade [100% FREE]

In an era where digital privacy is increasingly under threat, taking control of your data and communications has never been more important. Thanks to Magic Grants, a nonprofit organization focused on funding privacy technologies and crypto infrastructure, TrueNAS Scale users now have access to powerful privacy tools that can transform their home storage system into a comprehensive privacy infrastructure.

What Are These New Privacy Applications?

Magic Grants has developed and released four critical privacy applications for the TrueNAS Scale platform:

• Monero Node: Run your own full Monero blockchain node
• Monero Wallet RPC: Control your Monero wallet programmatically
• Arti: A Rust implementation of the Tor network protocol
• I2P: The Invisible Internet Project for anonymous hosting and browsing

These applications are now available in the TrueNAS Scale app store and can be installed with just a few clicks, dramatically lowering the barrier to entry for implementing robust privacy tools.

Why TrueNAS Scale Matters for Privacy

TrueNAS Scale is a free, open-source operating system that turns regular storage hardware into a powerful network storage system (NAS). Unlike cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive, TrueNAS gives you complete control over your data because everything is stored on hardware that you own.

Key benefits include:

• Complete data sovereignty - your files stay on your hardware
• No reliance on third-party services that could compromise your privacy
• Linux-based with support for containers and virtualization
• Scalable across multiple systems
• Extensive app ecosystem that now includes privacy tools

Remember that massive Dropbox breach in 2016 that exposed 68 million credentials? Or when it came out that Google was letting third-party developers read people's emails? With TrueNAS, you eliminate these risks entirely.

The Monero Node: Financial Privacy Upgrade

Running your own Monero node is a significant privacy upgrade for cryptocurrency users. When you use someone else's node, you expose information about your wallet activity to that third party. They can see when you're online and making transactions, potentially allowing them to piece together details about your financial habits.

The Monero node app for TrueNAS Scale runs Monerod, a full Monero daemon that:

• Downloads and validates the entire Monero blockchain
• Connects to peers in the network
• Processes and broadcasts transactions
• Ensures your wallet view key never leaves your control
• Eliminates the need to connect to remote nodes

By running your own node, you prevent your IP from being directly linked to your transactions, can't be fed false information about the network state, and get faster transaction processing due to reduced network latency.

The implementation includes options to route through Tor or I2P for enhanced anonymity and supports advanced configurations like blockchain pruning to reduce storage requirements.

Monero Wallet RPC: Programmable Financial Privacy

RPC (Remote Procedure Call) allows software to communicate with other software over a network. The Monero Wallet RPC app exposes a JSON RPC API that enables programmatic control of your wallet, letting you:

• Create new wallets with specific security parameters
• Generate addresses for receiving payments on the fly
• Check balances across multiple accounts in one operation
• Create and sign transactions with various priority levels
• Split transactions to avoid certain blockchain analysis techniques
• Verify transaction signatures
• Set up recurring scheduled transactions

From an operational security standpoint, this is powerful because you can keep your wallet on your secure NAS at home while controlling it completely remotely. You can set up automated transactions without exposing your main system, and do so in a way that enhances your OpSec.

For developers, this enables powerful workflows like air-gapped setups where one system prepares transactions and another signs them, or services that process payments without human intervention.

Arti: The Future of Tor in Rust

Tor has long been the gold standard for anonymity online, but its C-based codebase has grown complex and clunky over the years. Arti is Tor rebuilt from scratch in Rust, a programming language designed for memory safety, thread safety, and improved security.

From a technical perspective, Arti offers several improvements:

• Modular architecture that separates components like network, cryptography, and directory handling
• Improved resistance to side-channel attacks
• Better error handling throughout the codebase
• More consistent API design for developers
• Significantly smaller and more auditable codebase

The TrueNAS implementation creates a SOCKS5 proxy on your NAS that any application can use to route traffic through Tor. It includes configuration options for connecting to Tor bridges if your internet connection is censored or being monitored.

While Arti is still in active development and not yet recommended by the Tor Project for highly sensitive tasks, installing it now helps test the future of anonymity technology.

I2P: The Invisible Internet Project

I2P (Invisible Internet Project) is similar to Tor but built specifically for hidden services rather than accessing the regular internet anonymously. Having I2P on your NAS means you can both access the I2P network and host services within it.

Unlike Tor's circuit-based approach with directory servers, I2P uses a fully distributed peer-to-peer model with its own internal network database. All connections are end-to-end encrypted by default, and the network uses "garlic routing" (an enhanced version of onion routing) that bundles multiple messages together to make traffic analysis even harder.

For Monero users, this is particularly valuable because Monero has native I2P support built directly into the protocol. Around 2018-2019, the Monero team implemented I2P connectivity directly in the Monero daemon to prevent transactions from being traced at the network level.

The TrueNAS app uses the Java implementation of I2P, which is the original reference version with the most complete set of features. It runs as a service on your NAS and creates a SOCKS proxy that lets your applications access I2P.

Building a Defense in Depth: Multiple Layers of Privacy

What makes this suite of tools particularly powerful is how they work together to create multiple independent layers of privacy:

1. Reduced Trust Requirements: Instead of trusting remote servers run by unknown parties, you run critical privacy infrastructure on hardware you control. Every third party you remove from your OpSec chain reduces your attack surface exponentially, not linearly.
2. Technical Separation: By combining multiple privacy technologies (e.g., running your Monero node through Tor or I2P), you create independent security layers that operate on different protocols and codebases. If an adversary has an exploit for Tor, they would still need separate exploits for I2P and Monero to fully compromise your operations.
3. Physical Security: Keeping sensitive operations on hardware in your physical possession eliminates entire attack vectors. Remote servers can be seized, companies can be compelled to hand over data, and cloud services can be hijacked without your knowledge.
4. Technical Compartmentalization: These tools allow you to separate different aspects of your digital life with actual network and system boundaries, not just logical ones. Your financial activities can run on completely different network paths than your personal browsing.
5. Self-Sovereignty: When you control these services yourself, you're not at the mercy of companies that might shut down, change their policies, or be subject to legal actions.

Practical Applications

The practical applications of this privacy stack are extensive:

• Host your Monero node's RPC interface as a Tor hidden service with client authentication so only you can access it from anywhere in the world
• Create a donation system that generates unique addresses for each donor
• Build custom integrations between privacy tools
• Host an anonymous blog that's resistant to censorship
• Create a completely private backup system for your important data
• Establish a family privacy hub where multiple people can benefit from enhanced privacy

What used to take days to configure manually is now just a few clicks away, making truly private infrastructure accessible to more people.

Getting Started

If you're already running TrueNAS Scale, you can find these apps in the app store right now. If you've been thinking about setting up your own NAS, this might be the perfect reason to take that step toward digital sovereignty.

The hardware requirements aren't extreme - even a system with a decent processor and 8GB of RAM can run this setup effectively. You could repurpose an old computer or build a dedicated NAS if you prefer.

For more information on TrueNAS Scale and these privacy applications, check out:

• TrueNAS Scale Official Website
• Magic Grants
• Monero Project
• Tor Project
• I2P

Conclusion

Privacy shouldn't require a computer science degree. With Magic Grants' new applications for TrueNAS Scale, building a comprehensive, self-hosted privacy infrastructure is now accessible to many more people.

As digital surveillance and censorship continue to increase, tools that give individuals control over their data and communications are becoming essential. This privacy stack represents a significant step toward making truly private infrastructure accessible to everyone.

Have you set up any of these privacy tools on your TrueNAS system? Share your experiences in the comments below!