Why NymVPN Anonymous mode provides the best privacy

Appreciating the value of technologically enhanced VPN privacy

2 mins Read
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Traditional Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), despite their name, do not actually protect our privacy. With advancements in metadata collection, traffic analysis, and AI-powered tracking and surveillance, this goes for even well-reputed VPN services, no matter what they promise. What is needed is the next generation of VPN technology capable of defending privacy through innovative network design.

This is where NymVPN comes in. What makes the app different from other VPNs on the market today is its integration of “mixnet” (or mix network) technology to power the app’s Anonymous Mode.

But why would you need to use the Anonymous Mode?

First, what is a mixnet?

A mixnet is a decentralized network, made up of independent servers all over the world, in which user traffic is routed to be anonymous. But as its name indicates, it does something unique: it mixes the traffic of different users up together to make it hard to tell who is sending what to whom.

Check out Nym’s step-by-step guide to learn exactly what happens to your traffic when using the mixnet in NymVPN’s Anonymous Mode.

Nym's Noise Generating Mixnet

Mixnet privacy benefits

The Nym mixnet is designed to provide several benefits in preserving user privacy against sophisticated tracking efforts.

  • Multi-hop routing. Routing through the Nym mixnet sends user traffic through a decentralized network with five hops (or independent servers rerouting your traffic): an entry gateway that permits access to the mixnet, three consecutive mixnet nodes that perform packet mixing, and an exit gateway that sends your data to its final destination. With a decentralized network like this, you can become unlinkable to what you do online and safe from server attacks.

  • No central point of command. The Nym mixnet has no central point of control for the multiple service operators that route user traffic. Each server is independently owned and operated. While Nym makes efforts to incentivize high reliability and performance of Nym nodes to ensure good user experience, node operators are ultimately autonomous.

  • No central logging of traffic. No single server in the network has access to the data of the full route for a user’s traffic. Even if a particular server keeps logs of the traffic they handle, they lack information on either the packet origin, its destination, or both. Your traffic remains unlinkable to you, and its content is always encrypted.

  • No central point of failure. Since full traffic logs cannot be known or obtained by a single hop on the mixnet, there is no one point that can be attacked or breached to link information about the sender and recipient.

  • Traffic analysis resistance. With the emergence of AI-powered network analytics, the terms of the game for VPN privacy technology have changed. It’s no longer sufficient to rely on even decentralized networks: what’s needed is advanced techniques in confusing traffic analysis. By adding network noise to the Nym mixnet – data mixing, cover traffic, and timing delays – NymVPN is building privacy for the future.

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