Different identities

[sujyo]

Hi
On whonix wiki, I read if you have different identities it’s better to use multiple Whonix machines every time you’re using a new identity. But it take alot of time to secure, change settings, hardening and configure each Whonix Gateway and Whonix Workstation machine for every identity. How to it faster ?
It’s okay if:

1. Configure one Whonix Gateway and one Whonix Workstation
2. Clone already configured one Whonix Gateway and Whonix workstation for every identity and Reinitialize MAC address for every machine ?
   Or maybe is any other easier way ?

[torjunkie]

Why not have a “clean” Whonix-Gateway and Whonix-Workstation that is already hardened, then only use clones for actual Internet activites.

This is already documented in the Security Guide - see VBox snapshots. For Qubes-Whonix, it is much easier, since AppVMs are based on the TemplateVMs which can be hardened at your leisure.

[entr0py]

Pseudonymity is very hard. It only takes one mistake to undo 20 years of perfect behavior. As Patrick pointed out in your other thread, it’s very easy to make mistakes when you are dealing with multiple identities on the same screen. Qubes makes it easier because you can use different window decorations. Ideally, you would use different machines and be required to physically move to switch identities.

Consider also that if any two or more of your highly-customized VMs were to be compromised by the same adversary, it would be trivial to link them together. (The same probably holds true for non-customized VMs due to hardware and os fingerprinting - so more physical machines are better and less cloned VMs).