[HN Gopher] NordVPN says its new protocol can circumvent VPN blo...
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       NordVPN says its new protocol can circumvent VPN blockers
        
       Author : mikece
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2025-01-29 20:20 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (gizmodo.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (gizmodo.com)
        
       | netsharc wrote:
       | > Unfortunately, because VPNs will have many requests being sent
       | from one server, website hosts can recognize when a VPN is being
       | used. A constant stream of requests coming from one computer's IP
       | address is, of course, unusual behavior.
       | 
       | > NordVPN claims to have found a way to make traffic from its
       | service look normal, though admits that it may not always work
       | perfectly. It also says the NordWhisper protocol may introduce
       | more latency.
       | 
       | That reads like they're wheel-reinventing Tor, and one fears
       | they'd use other users' computers as exit nodes. But then again
       | this "journalist" might be a too typical one, one who doesn't
       | know what they're talking about.
       | 
       | And on the other side of the block, a VPN user in a suppressive
       | regime trying to connect to a regime-known VPN server will just
       | get a spoofed "connection refused" from the regime's firewall.
       | interestingly a P2P-system where they connect to a random home
       | computer somewhere on the planet instead of known commercial VPN
       | servers, plus a hard-to-detect protocol (pretend to be a game? Do
       | games do P2P nowadays or do they always talk to a server?), might
       | be able to get away with it.
       | 
       | Anyway, the page doesn't give much detail either:
       | https://nordvpn.com/blog/nordwhisper-protocol/
        
         | ramesh31 wrote:
         | > and one fears they'd use other users' computers as exit nodes
         | 
         | This is already standard practice for commercial VPN providers,
         | and is one of ten thousand reasons you should never use one for
         | any reason ever.
        
           | netsharc wrote:
           | Aah, yet more bullshit on the Internet. Source?
           | 
           | I know those freebie VPNs do that, but many commercial
           | providers are still sane.
        
           | achierius wrote:
           | Have any others? I haven't seen such pushback on using a VPN
           | before, so I'm curious.
        
       | Arnt wrote:
       | Sending traffic from many IPv6 addresses perhaps?
        
       | portaouflop wrote:
       | VPNs are snake oil, don't trust a word they say
        
       | clamprecht wrote:
       | I wonder if it's analagous to spread spectrum[1] with radio
       | comms.
       | 
       | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_spectrum
        
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       (page generated 2025-01-29 23:00 UTC)