At Nym Technologies, our goal is to build the world's most private VPN. That is why we built NymVPN on top of a decentralized, noise-generating network which offers robust privacy that traditional VPNs cannot.
How does a traditional VPN work?
A conventional VPN works by creating an encrypted tunnel from your device to a server controlled by the VPN company. This secure connection may provide some degree of privacy from individuals or entities who are monitoring your local network. However, it requires that you trust your VPN provider not to watch what you do, which they easily can because all of your traffic passes through infrastructure they control.
Encryption vs. privacy guarantees
VPNs: Encrypt your data and route it through a server, but the VPN provider can still see your IP address and potentially your traffic.
Nym Mixnet: Encrypts traffic in layers and routes it through a decentralized network of mix nodes, making it nearly impossible to trace the source, destination, or metadata of your activity, even for Nym.
Centralized vs. decentralized infrastructure
VPNs: Operate through centralized servers. If those servers are compromised, your data could be exposed.
Nym Mixnet: Runs on a decentralized network of community-operated nodes, with no central authority controlling user data or traffic.
Metadata protection
VPNs: Hide your traffic content, but not necessarily metadata (who you connect to, when, and how much data).
Nym Mixnet: Defends against metadata analysis by introducing delays and mixing traffic patterns, breaking the link between sender and receiver.
Anonymity model
VPNs: Require trust in the VPN provider - if logs are kept or servers are compromised, your activity could be traced.
Nym Mixnet: Uses anonymous credentials and zero-knowledge proofs, meaning your identity isn't tied to your traffic; even Nym can't trace your activity.
While VPNs are useful tools for basic privacy, they were never designed to protect against network-level surveillance or metadata leaks.
The Nym mixnet provides far greater privacy by using a combination of several techniques. First, the network of servers that your traffic passes through is decentralized and not controlled by Nym Technologies. Additionally, your packets are wrapped in multiple layers of encryption. Then, they are made to be the same size. Next, fake packets are added in with your real ones to further increase privacy. Finally, they are sent through the mixnet. As they travel through the mixnet, your individual packets of Internet data are shuffled (like a deck of playing cards) with everyone else's traffic.
This layered security approach makes it extremely difficult to determine who you are communicating with, when, from where, and for how long. A decentralized network, layers of encryption, cover traffic, and mixing all work together to provide exceptional privacy when you use the Nym mixnet.