[liberationtech] VPN HexaTech

[Seamus Tuohy]

+! to what Nathan said.

After doing some cursory digging I believe that it is a tool by betternet (
betternet.co).

Betternet seems to be a part of a collection of VPN tools and services. I
am not going to go doxxing the whole network, but it is not hard to explore
out from betternet to see their other assets, relationships, and staff. If
you dig deep enough there are even some glimpses at possible motivation.

As Nathan said, it is a closed source tool, with a custom propriety
protocol so there are a lot of unanswered questions that make it an
alternative to the other closed source free VPN's used for access, but not
in the same class as the variety of open-source, audited, secure
circumvention tools out there. Depending upon the users use-case if it lets
people access otherwise restricted content and is easy to use, it works.

Best,
s2e


On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 10:38 AM, Nathan of Guardian <
nathan at guardianproject.info> wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Feb 3, 2016, at 06:08 AM, Amin Sabeti wrote:
> > VPN HexaTech has become popular amongst Iranians:
> >
> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vpn-hexatech-free-proxy-vpn/id1053874290?mt=8
> >
> > I've done a brief research and found out an Indian company is behind it.
> > I cannot find anything else.
> >
> > Have you heard about this VPN by any chance?
>
> Ultimately, it is a single-hop VPN using a closed-source app, with
> little details on what type of protocol or cryptography they are using.
> If you choose to trust it, it will only be because they say "you can
> trust us!", and not because of any other technical or operational
> scrutiny they have opened themselves up to.
>
> Also, while I have deep admiration and affection for the people and
> country of India, having a VPN-based in a jurisdiction with a complex
> relationship to cryptography, surveillance and lawful intercept does not
> seem optimal.
>
> Free and fast is hard to ignore for typical users, and if all people are
> looking for is a way to get to blocked sites, then sure, it probably
> fills that need in the most minimum way. I think asking "How can this
> possibly be free?" is always a good exercise, especially when it is not
> a volunteer-driven network like Tor. Also, Psiphon and Lantern are doing
> some great work on the one-hop mobile proxy/VPN front these days, so
> probably best to point people in those directions.
>
> +n
>
>
> --
>   Nathan of Guardian
>   nathan at guardianproject.info
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