Using Bitcoin To Establish VPN Connections Without Trusted Third Parties

This is a viewpoint editorial by Moustafa Amin, a technology leader with more than 20 years of professional experience throughout big organizations, provider and telephone companies.Bitcoin is certainly the worlds most recent kind of cash. Governed by no main authority and managed by no one, it represents the financial rescue that the world is trying to find. In my opinion, Bitcoin freedom can be reached get away eavesdroppers that work relentlessly day and night to obstruct, keep track of or even control our online activities.Traditional VPNToday, if 2 endpoints wish to talk independently to each other, they typically require to do so via a relied on, third-party intermediary. As an example, consider what takes place if any two endpoints wish to establish a virtual personal network (VPN) tunnel between themselves to continue a private conversation over the general public web. They require to first be able to learn about each other. This is the discovery part.If the 2 endpoints can somehow find each other, they might still not be able to directly communicate– for example, if they have private IP addresses or are hidden behind broadband routers or entrances. This is the data communication part.Additionally, if more than one gadget wishes to share the exact same VPN channel to speak to each other, then additional info needs to be exchanged between all VPN points.The first two parts of this process involve utilizing a 3rd celebration to help with discovery and communication. The 2 endpoints need to buy a service from a VPN service supplier and specify that they want to interact. The service company acts as a trusted intermediary to the 2 celebrations.(Graphic/Moustafa Amin)ChallengesThis 3rd party not just requires to be trusted, however also must be trusted. If it is jeopardized, then the privacy is gone. It likewise needs to be constantly online. The 2 endpoints can not communicate with each other if this third celebration was to go out of company. One pushing problem that is present in this centralized VPN model is the requirement to propagate a shared key to the communicating entities that they utilize to encrypt and decrypt the traffic between them. This crucial exchange typically takes place over a different channel– an out-of-band channel (think: e-mail, phone, text, and so on). This obviously lacks the preferred privacy-prohibiting eavesdropping or unlawful interception of the shared key.Also, it is not unusual in some countries to restrict known VPN ports. It happened to me when I chose in for a yearly membership for a well-known VPN service. I found that my VPN client could not link to any VPN server worldwide. I opened a case with the service provider and thankfully, they comprehended the circumstance and refunded my money.Moreover, some banks or other conventional monetary systems (charge card or payment processors) can deny or restrict payments if one attempts to subscribe to recognized worldwide VPN services.Now, the question becomes: How do we allow 2 or more entities to interact amongst themselves without using third-party intermediaries, therefore preventing all these problems? To address this, I am grateful to present Bitcoin VPN.What Is Bitcoin VPN And How Does It Work?Bitcoin VPN is a solution that leverages the Bitcoin network (Layer 1) or the Lightning Network (Layer 2) to allow 2 or more celebrations to discover each other and be able to interact independently over the public internet.As with traditional VPN, a Bitcoin VPN client needs to access the web website of their desired VPN service. This client could be a telecommuter that needs to be connected and access their corporate headquarters, or a regular VPN user who wishes to access the internet from another location to bypass some content constraint for example.When they go with the VPN service, the customer will exist with a Lightning invoice or merely a wallet address along with a comparable deal quantity that requires to be sent. When it comes to a telecommuter, the deal quantity ought to be very little (no business would bill their employees to link to their network). For a routine VPN service, the deal might be a per hour bill.In all cases, the client sends out the deal to the presented Bitcoin address.Once got, the VPN server reacts by returning to the customer a deal and passes the server public secret as a clear text embedded in the transaction metadata.As whatever is openly kept on the Bitcoin ledger and to avoid any possible eavesdropping, the client encrypts the following information utilizing the gotten server public secret: Client public IP address.Client public key.Other alternatives that would be required for the VPN connection (port number, etc). The customer sends out another transaction to the server, embedding the encrypted message from the previous step in the transaction metadata.The server decrypts the encrypted message using its private key.Equipped with all needed information for the VPN, the server then establishes the required VPN tunnel to the customer (public IP address: port number) and sets by making use of the customer public key for the VPN encryption. Keep in mind how this varies from a standard VPN where the client is normally the initiator of the tunnel.Three-way handshake and VPN tunnel establishment (Graphic/Moustafa Amin)For anyone who would argue that the very same could be accomplished with other cryptocurrencies, my goal with Bitcoin VPN is to avoid the central nature and subsequent difficulties of conventional VPNs by leveraging the real and most decentralized journal out there (Bitcoin). Just put aside your desire to control and/or make money by uselessly injecting your inferior altcoin of choice in the conversation.Finally, it is apparent that Bitcoin, with its special decentralized architecture, provides unlimited chances other than its obvious monetary capabilities.This is a visitor post by Moustafa Amin. Opinions expressed are completely their own and do not always show those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

I found that my VPN client couldnt connect to any VPN server worldwide. To address this, I am delighted to present Bitcoin VPN.What Is Bitcoin VPN And How Does It Work?Bitcoin VPN is a solution that leverages the Bitcoin network (Layer 1) or the Lightning Network (Layer 2) to enable 2 or more parties to discover each other and be able to interact independently over the public internet.As with conventional VPN, a Bitcoin VPN client needs to access the web website of their desired VPN service. For a routine VPN service, the transaction might be a per hour bill.In all cases, the client sends out the deal to the presented Bitcoin address.Once received, the VPN server responds by sending out back to the customer a deal and passes the server public secret as a clear text embedded in the deal metadata.As whatever is publicly saved on the Bitcoin journal and to avoid any possible eavesdropping, the customer encrypts the following data utilizing the received server public key: Client public IP address.Client public key.Other alternatives that would be needed for the VPN connection (port number, etc). The client sends another transaction to the server, embedding the encrypted message from the previous step in the deal metadata.The server decrypts the encrypted message using its private key.Equipped with all required information for the VPN, the server then establishes the required VPN tunnel to the client (public IP address: port number) and sets by using the customer public key for the VPN encryption. Note how this varies from a conventional VPN where the client is generally the initiator of the tunnel.Three-way handshake and VPN tunnel establishment (Graphic/Moustafa Amin)For anybody who would argue that the same might be achieved with other cryptocurrencies, my objective with Bitcoin VPN is to prevent the central nature and subsequent challenges of traditional VPNs by leveraging the real and most decentralized ledger out there (Bitcoin).