Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by KomoD on Sunday June 18, 2023 @03:22PM
(#36383454)
Nord as in NordVPN? Source in that case please?
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Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by moffkalast on Sunday June 18, 2023 @03:24PM
(#36383480)
It's not "well-known"- because your links don't say what you're claiming they do, and this is a conspiracy theory that's been shut down on here a thousand times before.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22532682
NordVPN used residential proxies at one point to enable access to Disney+ and other streaming services; that's a world apart from hijacking end-user connections.
They've got an open source client. Where's the code that's turning end users into endpoints?
Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by internetter on Sunday June 18, 2023 @03:51PM
(#36383782)
> NordVPN used residential proxies at one point to enable access to Disney+ and other streaming services
I'm sorry but that's incredibly sketchy
It really is of course, but I can honestly see them resort to this only to be able to offer a competitive edge because when it all comes around, this stuff is what many use VPN for rather than privacy. As streaming sites keep clamping down on VPN providers, the low hanging fruits of dodging via mere national IP addresses are blacklisted by them and these providers need to go even further to fool them and compete.
But yes, it's also sketchy with the other implications and all, and not the least what kind of traffic that people want to hide that you're unknowingly a proxy to!
https://github.com/NordSecurity/nordvpn-linux/tree/main/mesh...
The standard linux vpn client clearly has some exitnode capabilities.
That's for Meshnet: https://nordvpn.com/meshnet/
Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by internetter on Sunday June 18, 2023 @04:34PM
(#36384177)
Oh interesting. Is that tailscale but worse?
Interesting as related to tailscale? Please tell me your insight. Legitimately interested.
i think users in a vpn dont expect other users traffic being redirected over their systems, even if its just to enable access to some streaming services... or are residential proxies systems in residential ranges that are used as proxies, but actually part of nord vpn infra, rather than its users?? (sorry i dont wanna read all the code, and am a bit confused)
It's the latter case; Nord used a third-party residential proxy service that they sent traffic through, but there's no serious evidence that they used their own users as proxy nodes or endpoints.
Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by internetter on Sunday June 18, 2023 @03:31PM
(#36383545)
I always thought nord seemed incredibly sketchy. Thanks for the confirmation.
Skimmed it and I don't see anything about Nord making their users into proxies, second link is questionable (since its deleted and you linked to an archive)
Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by internetter on Sunday June 18, 2023 @03:32PM
(#36383567)
> Aside from its link to Oxylabs, Tesonet also advertises itself as a creator and investor of a number of online services, including NordVPN, Hostinger and others.
Where else would they get the 100 million users?
Why don't you try installing Nord in a VM and monitoring traffic yourself, instead of taking low-quality blogspam Medium articles at face value?
If they're truly hijacking end user clients, why don't you point to the section of their open source client that's responsible for that?
https://github.com/NordSecurity/nordvpn-linux
Easy enough to prove.
Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by internetter on Sunday June 18, 2023 @03:42PM
(#36383667)
I didn't even read the medium article, only the first one. That's what I quoted from. I agree, investigating traffic would be an excellent idea, but I don't intend on putting my credit card into nord's sketchy site (they apparently don't accept paypal)
They do accept paypal, I just checked their site.
Credit or debit card, Klarna, PayPal, Google Pay, Cryptocurrencies
Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by internetter on Sunday June 18, 2023 @03:45PM
(#36383711)
Where? I'm presented with "Credit or debit" (direct input), AmazonPay, ACH Transfer, and Crypto https://imgur.com/G4j1DB8
Maybe possible it differs by country then:
Exactly, I'd love to see some proper proof other than "the parent company owns a residential proxy service"
Re:Swing VPN app is a DDoS botnet
by internetter on Sunday June 18, 2023 @03:43PM
(#36383679)
Honestly, "the parent company owns a residential proxy service" is more than enough to deter me from the product.
If I were evil, I don't implement proxy feature on open Linux VPN client that geeks use, but just implement on closed Windows/Android client. Traffic monitoring is better.
Yeah I saw that part but it does not mean they are using the users from NordVPN for Oxylabs, there's nothing explicitly showing so.
I'll be honest, the fact that they're directly linked to Oxylabs alone is enough to deter me. I can't see how else they'd get 100 million+ residential customers on Oxylabs side... sure, I'm not going to go around claiming I have direct proof, but that's more than enough for me to not use their services.