Mixnet

VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are currently the most popular network-level privacy solution. A VPN provides protection via an encrypted tunnel between a user’s computer and a server run by the VPN provider.

One problem with many VPNs is configuration: misconfigurations in the software of clients can lead to sensitive data leaks or cyber attacks. But even when configured correctly, traditional VPNs don’t offer real privacy or adequate resistance to surveillance and censorship. This is because they are centralized: all your data passes through server(s) owned and operated by a single company. This makes user data vulnerable to server breaches, syber attacks, and overreaching government subpoenas. It also makes surveillance of the network extremely easy to accomplish.

VPN providers themselves can also fully observe all network traffic between users and the public internet, knowing exactly which services its users are accessing at a given time. The user must thus trust that the VPN provider is not using their information in a malicious manner or keeping logs.

The Nym mixnet is an anonymous overlay network that provides strong network-level anonymity, even in the face of powerful systems capable of passively monitoring the entire network. The Nym mixnet is decentralized, with no trusted third parties, and so does not require a trusted provider like a VPN.

Tor provides better privacy than centralized VPNs. The Tor network solves the network layer surveillance problem by routing onion encrypted traffic through a "circuit" of three relays so that only the final Tor node can see the destination. However, Tor’s anonymity properties can be defeated by an entity like an intelligence agency that is capable of monitoring the "entry" and "exit" nodes of the entire network. Tor’s design is expected to continue to be the best network layer privacy solution for web-browsing and other stream-based traffic.

Mixnets have higher latency but provide stronger network layer privacy properties, defending also against a global passive adversary capable of monitoring the entire network. By adding network noise (cover traffic, data mixing, and timing obfuscations), traffic patterns are obscured, protecting against any attempt at correlating flows and deanonymizing users.

Nym can provide more powerful network-level privacy for cryptocurrency transactions, e-mail, instant messaging, and any other message-based traffic. Unlike Tor, Nym’s mixnet design guarantees network anonymity and resistance to surveillance, even in the face of adversaries capable of monitoring the entire network, by adding noise to the network. Rather than operated by a trusted provider like a VPN, the Nym Noise Generating Mixnet is decentralized, using blockchain technology and token economics to organize the topology of the network. Nym node operators are incentivized to run nodes and provide good quality of service and uptime. Software updates are governed through community adoption as decisions are made by the node operators and token holders.