Anonymity

[winworld]

1. Is any identifying information (IP, hardware serials, configuration) uploaded to servers when downloading updates and making an iso?

2. Is any identifying information embedded in the iso and transferred to machines that receive the updates? In essence, is it possible to identify the machine or network that produced the iso by examining or querying the machine that received the updates?

In my situation, it's acceptable for each machine to be non-anonymous (pseudonymous) as long as the two machines can't be linked together. Is this the right tool for that?

Thanks in advance!

[boco]

I'm sure the author will answer this, but without knowing the WSUSOU code I can already say that the IP is always transferred to the servers you connect to. Communication is not possible without the other peer knowing your IP. While you could run WSUSOU through Tor, for example, this hurts performance.

Even your connection to this website and participation in the forum transfers your IP. Any moderator and admin can look it up. Other users can not.

[winworld]

Thank you for reply.

I understand that the machine that downloads the updates (PC1) will have its IP logged on a server somewhere.

Also, after the updates are applied, and when the new installation (PC2) connects to Windows Update, it also will have its IP logged by Microsoft's servers.

I would like to know if there is any information (IP, serial #'s, etc) about PC1 that is embedded in the update iso itself and if that information is somehow transferred to PC2 by way of WSUSOffline. If wsusoffline simply downloads generic patch files that are untouched and executed on PC2, then there should be no link between the 2 PCs?

Will wait for author's reply. Thanks again.

[aker]

wsusou just downloads the original generic files from MS. The are SHA1-checked, so they cannot get "personalised" as that would break the SHA1 (SHA1 of the file = last part of the file name before the extention). Also the wsusou repo from one PC does not differ from the one from another PC (except for the WD/MSSE definitions as the servers aren't in sync).

[WSUSUpdateAdmin]

Hi!

I'm sure the author will answer this, [...]

Okay : WOU doesn't store any information about the downloading computer, so on the target computer there won't be any way to trace back to the download computer.

Regards
T. Wittrock