In anonymity-versus-surveil on-line, the discovery of the user’s IP address typically means game over.

That means they will locate just the ProxyHam carton the man put in a distant library, cafe, or alternative public place, if the user’s internet connection is completely traced by researchers –and not their real location.

A research worker for the consultancy Rhino Security Labs, Caudill, compares his tool to approaches that are typical to conceal the source of an Internet connection, like making use of a neighbor’s Wifi, or working from a coffee shop rather than dwelling. But “the trouble with Wifi as a protocol is the fact that you can not get the variety you want. In the event the FBI kicks down the doorway, it may well not be my door, but it will be so close they are able to hear me breathe,” says Caudill.

ProxyHam, which Caudill says he will offer on the market at price to DefCon attendees and may also instruct users the best way to assemble with teachings on his web site and ProxyHam’s Github page (both accessible after DefCon), is really two devices. The initial part is a box the extent of a big dictionary, including a Raspberry Pi computer linked to a Wifi card as well as a little 900 megaherz antenna, all which is supposed to be plugged in at some inconspicuous public place–Caudill proposes a dim corner of a public library. On the opposite end of a radio connection, the user plugs into their ethernet interface in a 900 megaherz antenna. (In the image above, Caudill uses a giant Yagi antenna, however he says a considerably smaller $57 level patch antenna functions, also.)

Caudill means ProxyHam to shield sensitive Internet users, including whistleblowers and dissidents, for whom tools like the anonymity applications and VPNs Tor might not supply adequate security. But to the ProxyHam apparatus, not the user, that malware strike would simply lead investigators with ProxyHam. “The KGB is not kicking in your door,” says Caudill. “They are kicking in the doorway of the library 2.5 miles away.”

To prevent radio detection on the user’s end, the wireless signs of ProxyHam are made to seem indistinguishable from the various cordless telephones that use the same frequency. And Caudill says the increase of more web-connected wireless gadgets will supply additional cover for ProxyHam users with time. “There are a slew of apparatus jumping into that space and conveying there,” he says. “It is not possible to say ‘we’ll chase down everyone who has this apparatus conveying on this particular frequency.’

No one should depend on ProxyHam alone–especially until its security was demonstrated in real world testing, says Micah Lee, a security technologist for The occasional and Intercept programmer for the anonymous whistleblowing applications SecureDrop. But Lee points out that it may be utilized together with present anonymity applications such as Tor and VPNs. “It may seem like a thing to augment your Tor use rather than replace it. In that sense, it may seem like a great notion,” he says. ProxyHam, he says, could achieve something similar. “No matter how really many hops over the Internet you use, if there is someone spying on everything, they are able to join all of the dots. But if one of the hops is not over the Internet and is rather over a radio link, it will be a lot more difficult to connect those dots.”

The variation of ProxyHam Caudill means to sell at DefCon will be pretty fundamental. But in future variants he is still developing, Caudill says the device may also contain accelerometers made to find and warn users if it is been transferred from its hiding place.

Visiting the problem of planting and purchasing a ProxyHam apparatus–one that if used you might never see may seem like paranoia. But Caudill means ProxyHam to shield the really individuals that are most sensitive online, those for whom only software protections are not good. “Journalists and dissidents in Arab Spring nations, for instance…these folks have really high protection demands,” Caudill says. “This is that last ditch attempt to stay anonymous and keep yourself safe.”