Introducing Speedy Mode on NymConnect!

A new feature for NymConnect boosts speed by 10x and offers a tantalising look at holistic privacy for the upcoming Nym VPN.

Author: Nym

September 12, 20236 mins read

A new feature for NymConnect boosts speed by 10x and offers a tantalising look at holistic privacy for the upcoming Nym VPN.

Blink and you’ll miss it! Ahead of the Nym VPN launch by the end of 2023, a lightning-fast new feature 10 times faster than the default mixnet option in NymConnect. With the upcoming Nym VPN, this feature is the first step towards letting users pick the privacy protection that’s most suitable for their needs. Quick_:_ say hi to Speedy Mode.

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NymConnect with Speedy Mode

The new Speedy Mode option in NymConnect sends traffic through the mixnet, but without cover traffic. This means that it does not protect traffic patterns from global adversaries, only against local adversaries, similarly to a dVPN. By default, Speedy Mode is not enabled, and users will have to switch the option on — allowing users to decide whether they want to optimise for speed or optimise for privacy.

The Nym mixnet is designed to be a privacy layer for the whole internet. But this can only be achieved if it is fast enough to support a wide range of use cases. Right now, the Nym mixnet works and can be integrated with any SOCKS5-compatible application.

However, the mixnet is slow and its utility is limited to use cases where speed is not so much of the essence, like email.

NymConnect with Speedy Mode will solve this by optimising latency across use cases. The first step will allow users themselves to manually optimise for privacy and latency depending on what they are using the mixnet for. As the system moves towards a full-stack VPN, some of this will be automated.

According to recent load testing benchmarking, the default mixnet currently averages download and upload speeds of 100KBps. Ping times were typically in the range of 800–1,000ms.

Those same tests found average upload and download speeds of Speedy Mode were 1,000 KBps, while ping times were as low as 200ms.

The default option in NymConnect will be complete privacy protection via the regular mixnet. But if users want to optimise for a specific low-latency use case, they can “dial down” the mixnet by reducing cover traffic and enabling Speedy Mode.

Dial down cover traffic, dial up the speed!

Users in Speedy Mode can still trust the mixnet to provide robust privacy protections because data still travels through three hops. The majority of VPNs offer just one hop, merely obscuring your IP from your internet provider and little else.

To achieve the breakneck 10x pace of Speedy Mode, the cover traffic feature of the regular mixnet, where dummy data packets are mixed in with real data, has been dropped. However, cover traffic will still be sent when accessing the default mixnet.

Quickly now, without delay

A feature of the default mode is that packets are sent at randomised, delayed intervals through the mixnet. This provides extremely strong privacy protection. To whizz data along faster, Speedy Mode does not delay these packets, optimising for speed instead.

Bigger packet sizes, better speeds

The default mixnet splits content up into tiny packets of 2KB before sending these across the mixnet. To make things faster, Speedy Mode uses slightly larger packets of 16KB. These are still small enough to throw off snooping adversaries but because they’re larger, fewer of them need to be created.

Geo-optimisation

The mixnet splits up and casts your data far and wide all around the world. This makes it near-impossible to track metadata. For this reason, the default mixnet does not operate with geo awareness switched on. However, sending packets across the whole world is not particularly efficient for connectivity or usability.

When operating in Speedy Mode you will be switching on geo-awareness. Behind the scenes, Speedy Mode contacts mixnet gateways and locates the closest to your region and then identifies which Network Requesters are nearby. All other nodes are then grouped by region based on the selected gateway for that session, meaning the nodes used to mix traffic will be closer, and the mixnet will be much, much faster.

Only the first hop can assess your location. This cannot subsequently be linked to any of the other hops, nor your final recipient, so your communications remain safe, unlinkable and untraceable.

How to turn on Speedy Mode in NymConnect

Switching Speedy Mode on couldn’t be simpler.

Open NymConnect, click the menu icon, and navigate to ‘Privacy Level’.

Hit ‘Enable’ and that’s it — NymConnect is in Speedy Mode!

Split tunelling: the optimised Nym VPN

The upcoming VPN will put holistic privacy in the hands of you, the user.

Just like NymConnect, users will be able to opt for the default Nym mixnet for hardcore pattern protection against the most powerful adversaries. Or they will be able to optimise for speed instead of privacy where that makes sense, such as for streaming video via Speedy Mode.

But Nym VPN will eventually go even further into the application level.

With split tunelling, users will be able to select the level of privacy protections for each individual app across their whole stack.

In short, your crypto wallet could run over the highest possible privacy settings via the default mixnet, while your web browser could run in Speedy Mode for content streaming! The choice is yours.

Speedy Mode is a proof of concept, so please test it! As NymConnect is still in beta, it should not be used for strong privacy protections yet, and that goes for Speedy Mode too. Speedy Mode is a work in progress, and Nym needs your help to determine the privacy implications, so feedback is essential.

Send your feedback via error reporting in the NymConnect app or the feedback channel on Discord.