- Surfshark is looking to improve the privacy of current end -to -end encryption with a new patent
- The plan is currently based on communication frames based on distributed trust
- Despite this, Surfshark says that its approach differs from the tastes of NYMVPN and Oscuravpn
Surfshark has just registered a new patent that seeks to improve the privacy of current end -to -end encryption systems (E2E).
Based on a communication infrastructure based on distributed trust, the method proposed by Surfshark seeks to reduce the amount of visible metadata, which means all data that are not the content, by dividing the encryption process between two separate VPN suppliers.
Encryption refers to data struggle in an illegible way and is the technical solution born to protect these online activities.
The end -to -end encryption (E2E) is the technology used by virtual private networks (VPN), some secure email services and messaging platforms to ensure that the content of the message remains private between the sender and the receiver.
Many metadata are still visible to the supplier
Karolis Kaciulis, Surfshark
However, Surfshark’s main system engineer, Karolis Kaciulis, believes it is time to go beyond E2E.
He told Techradar: “After the appearance of E2E encryption, we believe that the issue of anonymity and user safety while using several messaging systems and technologies has stagnated. We believe that there is still space to improve.”
The main problem with today’s encrypted messages, Kaciulis explains, is that although these messages cannot access unwanted third parties, “many metadata are still visible to the supplier.”
Metadata include details such as who sent a message to whom, when the message, the size of the message and many others was sent.
This is where the new surfshark patent enters. According to a communication framework based on distributed trust, it seeks to introduce a new way for VPN suppliers to handle encryption and discourage the ownership of the message.
Such a framework would involve two different VPN companies that handle the encryption process so that no unique entity has all the information in its entirety.
“The patented method would ensure that the information is divided,” said the patent inventor. “Therefore, the metadata seen by supplier companies (as well as the governments where they reside) are reduced.”
Don’t call it decentralized vpn
It is worth mentioning that some suppliers already offer decentralized VPN solutions that divide user information between several entities without having a single point of government.
For example, the recently launched NYMVPN is based on a decentralized server network executed by anonymous users worldwide. Oscura VPN uses a two -part VPN structure, using Mullvad’s Wireguard VPN as a departure jump.
Kaciulis, however, thinks that surfshark patent goes beyond what a decentralized VPN represents.
“Personally, I think that today ‘Decentralized VPN’ is a little fashionable word used to convince users that it is a better solution than the status quo. Internet is based on trust and authority, and the loss of authority only makes it less safe,” Kaciulis told Techradar.
Therefore, this solution comes as a way to emphasize the importance of having even more authority. “It’s just that authority is shared between several actors instead of one.”
