Zain Dana Harperphantom · hardware-identity privacy

The identity your machine gives away, on your terms.

Every app on a Windows or Linux machine can read the identifiers that fingerprint it. Phantom audits what yours reveals, generates a consistent replacement identity, and applies it to the identifiers software reads most. It backs up every original first, and restores them exactly when you revert.

You own the machine. You decide what it says about itself.

phantom · v1.1.0 · Windows + Linux · proprietary · Free / Pro / Enterprise · phantom audit

Your hardware is a permanent tracking number. Until you change it.

Motherboard serials, disk serials, MAC addresses, GPU device IDs, TPM module IDs, and the machine IDs Windows and Linux keep, are all readable by ordinary software, and most of them survive a clean reinstall. Together they are a device fingerprint that follows the machine for its whole life, built without asking you. Phantom puts that fingerprint under your control, on a machine you own or are authorized to test.

Audit first. Change deliberately. Reverse completely.

Nothing is written until the originals are saved.

Read what the machine reveals. Generate one internally consistent identity from a seed. Apply it after the originals are backed up, never before: the registry on Windows, the machine-id, hostname, and MAC on Linux. Validate that every source now reads consistently. Revert restores the exact originals from that backup, and so does uninstall, so you are never left with a changed identity and no way back.

THE PHANTOM LOOP Read. Generate. Back up, then write. Restore exactly. 1 · AUDIT Read what leaks every identifier software can see; read-only, changes nothing 2 · GENERATE One seed, one identity internally consistent; Samsung serials keep Samsung's format 3 · APPLY · LAYER 2 Write the userland IDs only after the originals are saved to the backup below BACKUP Originals, saved first one record, written before any change SAVE 4 · VALIDATE Every source agrees applied identifiers read consistently 5 · REVERT OR UNINSTALL Restore the exact originals from the backup. Uninstall does this for you before it removes the files. You are never left with a changed identity and no tool to undo it. RESTORE The backup is the whole guarantee. A change you cannot undo is not privacy, it is damage; Phantom writes the undo before it writes the change.
Schematic · back up before you write, restore exactly on the way out

Four things it does, and does carefully.

See your exposure phantom audit reads and reports every hardware identifier software can see on the machine, across SMBIOS, disk, network, GPU, TPM, display, boot, and the OS identity store: the Windows registry, or the Linux machine-id and hostname. It changes nothing, so you run it first to see where you start.
A consistent identity, from a seed Generation builds a realistic profile that holds together: disk serials match their vendor's format, MACs use real manufacturer prefixes. One seed reproduces the same identity every time, so a profile is repeatable, not random noise.
Spoof what matters most At Layer 2, apply rewrites what carries the most fingerprinting weight: five Windows registry identifiers from MachineGuid down, or the machine-id, hostname, and MAC on Linux. The wider identifier set is modeled so profiles stay consistent as the deeper layers land.
Reverse it completely Every original value is backed up before the first write. Revert restores them exactly, and uninstall reverts before it removes anything, so leaving Phantom returns the machine to precisely the identity it had before.

How it compares.

Edit the registry by handA random spoofer scriptPhantom
Audits what actually leaks firstNoNoYes
Internally consistent identityNoRarelyYes
Backs up originals before writingNoNoYes
Restores the exact originalsNoNoYes
Reverts automatically on uninstallNoNoYes
Reapplies across rebootsNoNoYes (Pro)
Validates the resultNoNoYes
One seed reproduces the identityNoNoYes

Run it now.

Everything is on the releases page with a published SHA256SUMS.txt. Verify the file you got before you install it, because the Windows installer is not code-signed yet.

windows download PhantomSetup-v1.1.0.msi · certutil -hashfile PhantomSetup-v1.1.0.msi SHA256
linux sudo apt-get install ./phantom_1.1.0-1_amd64.deb · or the .rpm, or the tarball's install.sh

On Windows, clear the SmartScreen warning with More info then Run anyway, and accept the UAC and license prompts. Once it is installed, see your exposure before you change anything:

audit phantom audit

Applying changes machine-wide identifiers, so run it from an elevated terminal on Windows, with sudo on Linux. Phantom runs in Free tier immediately, which covers Layer-2 spoofing and up to two profiles.

apply phantom profile generate my-profile · phantom apply my-profile
undo phantom validate my-profile · phantom revert

The honest caveat.

The MSI is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen warns on first run. The published hash is the substitute: it proves the file you hold is the file the pipeline built. Signing is planned; until then the checksum does the signature's job, checked by you instead of trusted by default.

Tiers.

Free is a real tier, not a trial: Layer-2 registry spoofing and two profiles, with no time limit. Pro and Enterprise raise the profile limit, add the background service that reapplies your identity across reboots, and unlock the deeper layers as they ship.

TierLayersProfilesBackground service
FreeLayer 2 (registry)2No
ProAll layers as they ship50Yes
EnterpriseAll layers as they shipUnlimitedYes

Keys are HMAC-signed and bound to one machine's hardware fingerprint, so a key issued for your machine is worthless on any other. phantom license request prints the fingerprint and build details your licensing contact needs; they issue a key bound to it.

Spec, at a glance.

Platform
Windows 10 22H2 or Windows 11 23H2 and newer; Linux with systemd. x86-64.
Install
Windows: an MSI, not code-signed yet. Linux: a .deb, an .rpm, or a portable tarball. Elevation on Windows, root on Linux for apply and revert.
Applies at Layer 2
Windows: MachineGuid, HwProfileGuid, MachineId, ProductId, InstallDate. Linux: machine-id, hostname, and the MAC of each physical interface.
Models, not yet applied
SMBIOS, disk, network, GPU, TPM, display, and boot identifiers, for the Layer 0 and Layer 1 paths.
Reversibility
Originals backed up before the first write; revert and uninstall both restore them exactly.
Persistence
PhantomService reapplies the active profile across reboots (Pro and Enterprise).
Licensing
HMAC-signed keys bound to one hardware fingerprint. Free, Pro, Enterprise.
Phone-home
Off unless you set a callback URL. No fingerprint, profile, or identity ever leaves the machine.
Store
Profiles, config, backup, and license live under %ProgramData%\Phantom on Windows, /var/lib/phantom on Linux, shared by the CLI and the service.

The change and the undo, shipped together.

Phantom treats hardware identity the way the rest of this workshop treats a result: something you can inspect, reproduce from a seed, and reverse without residue. The backup is the receipt. A spoof you cannot cleanly undo is not control, so the undo is written before the change, every time.

v1.1.0 ships the Layer-2 path on Windows and Linux, verified end to end. Layer 1 reaches disk, network, GPU, TPM, and display through a kernel driver; Layer 0 reaches SMBIOS and boot identifiers through UEFI firmware. Both are modeled now so today's profiles stay consistent when those layers arrive. The profile you generate is already the whole identity; the deeper layers only widen where it is written.

Run it: github.com/HarperZ9/phantom · the engine room · the workshop

State of the work, August 2026.

Phantom v1.1.0 is shipped, on Windows and Linux. The Layer-2 path is verified end to end on fresh VMs of both: audit, generate, apply, validate, a clean uninstall that returns the machine to its original identity, and reboot persistence. On Linux that last one is proven through an actual power-cycle, where the service brought a spoofed MAC back after a reboot.

It is honest about its edges. Layer 2 only for now, with Layers 1 and 0 modeled but not shipped. The Layer 1 kernel driver now compiles under CI and two of its security defects are fixed, but it is unsigned and not yet functional end to end. The Windows installer is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen warns until a certificate is in place. Intended for machines you own or are expressly authorized to test, not for evading fraud controls or misrepresenting a device you do not control.