- Surfshark seeks to improve privacy for the current end-to-end encryption with a new patent
- The plan is currently based on distributed trust -based communication frames
- Despite this, Surfshark says its approach differs from Nymvpn and Obscuravpn
Surfshark has just registered a new patent that wants to improve the privacy of current end-to-end encryption systems (E2E).
Based on a distributed trust-based communication infrastructure, Surfshark’s suggested method seeks to reduce the amount of visible metadata-what means all the data that is not the content-by dividing the encryption process between two separate VPN providers.
Encryption refers to the encryption of data into an ulcer and is the technical solution born to protect the network-based communication, we all trust daily whether it is a text message, a document or photo shared with another user over the Internet.
End-to-end encryption (E2E) is the technique used by virtual private networks (VPNs), some secure email services and messaging platforms to ensure that the content of these online activities remains private between the sender and the recipient.
A lot of metadata is still visible to the provider
Karolis Kaciulis, Surfshark
Still, Surfshark’s main system engineer, Karolis Kaciulis, believes it’s time to go beyond E2E.
He said to Techradar: “After the emergence of E2E encryption, we feel that the subject of user anonymity and security while using different messaging systems and technologies is stagnant. We believe there is still room for improvement.”
The most important question with today’s encrypted messages, Kaciulis explains, is that although these messages cannot be accessed by unwanted third parties, “there is still a lot of metadata visible to the provider.”
Metadata contains details such as who sent a message to whom, when the message was sent, the size of the message and many others.
This is where Surfshark’s new patent comes in. Based on a distributed trust-based communication framework, it seeks to introduce a new way for VPN providers to deal with encryption and de-centralize ownership of the message.
Such a framework involves two different VPN companies that handle the encryption process so that no single device has all information in its entirety.
“The patented method would ensure that the information is divided,” the patent inventor said. “Thus, the metadata seen by the provider’s companies (as well as governments where they live) is reduced.”
Call it not decentralized VPN
It is worth mentioning that some providers already offer decentralized VPN solutions that share users’ information between multiple devices without having a single government place.
For example, the newly launched NymVPN is built on a decentralized server network driven by anonymous users around the world. Obscura VPN uses a two-party VPN structure using Mullvad’s Wireguard VPN as an output shop.
However, Kaciulis believes that Surfshark’s patent goes beyond what a decentralized VPN stands for.
“Personally, I think today ‘decentralized VPN’ is a bit of a buzzword used to convince users that it is a better solution than the status quo. The Internet is built on trust and authority and losing the said authority only makes it less safe,” Kaciulis told Techradar.
Therefore, this solution comes as a way of emphasizing the importance of having even more authority. “It’s just that the authority is shared between several actors instead of one.”
