If you're looking to increase your privacy online, you've probably read that using one of the best VPN services is the best way to go. We would know: at TechRadar, we always write about VPNs and recommend our favorite providers.
However, the security company INVISV claims that a VPN is not the right tool from a privacy and security point of view.
That's why he developed his INVISV Relay software (opens in a new tab), which he says is a better option for protecting user data.
But how do multiparty relays (MPRs) work in practice? And can it really completely replace your virtual private network?
The problem of trust
"We are challenging something fundamental in this space: that to protect our privacy, we need to pass our data to a specific company (like a VPN provider) that is supposed to protect us," said INVISV co-founder Barath Raghavan. .
According to Raghavan and his business partner Paul Schmitt, the problem lies in the software infrastructure, which implies a certain degree of trust between users and software providers. The same concept also applies to the companies behind the best antivirus software or secure email services, for example.
They also believe that independent VPN audits, a growing practice in the privacy industry, cannot fully address this security flaw either, as they still rely on some degree of user trust. Whereas according to INVISV, it is better to put the protections directly into the software architecture.
"There are so many of these types of third parties saying 'trust us, send us your details and we'll fix your security or privacy problem,'" Raghavan told TechRadar. "It's not really the right design for privacy."
How do MPRs work?
Available only on Android devices, INVISV Relay is an MPR, designed on the principle that no party involved can see the full data that the user can link to. However, INVISV Relay is definitely not the first MPR. Apple Private Relay is, in fact, a very similar tool available for iOS.
Both apps are based on a privacy design formulated by American computer scientist David Chaum in the 1980s, something known as decoupling principle.
Here, the data traffic goes through two separate servers managed by two separate organizations. In theory, none of the parties involved can see the complete chain of information, which means that it will not be possible to associate the identity of the users with their activities.
The Tor Browser, for example, is based on the same principle, described as "onion routing." However, being free software and typically using three layers of encryption by default, Tor lacks the level of performance that most mobile device users might need.
"What we've done is create something that has the right privacy principle but is fast," he said. Raghavan, promising that INVISV Relay can work as fast as your normal browsing connection.
To do this, the service uses one of the best CDN networks at the moment, Fastly (opens in a new tab), since it implements the encryption protocol known as IETF Mask that combines HTTPS connections encrypted by TLS with reliable and fast performance. It's also open source, which means anyone can check the network for vulnerabilities.
Your data will leave your device through a TLS encrypted tunnel to reach the first server managed by INVISV. As the company explained to us, this server will only be able to see a stream of encrypted data traveling from your IP address to the next hop, the one operated by Fastly.
At this point, Fastly will decrypt your data in transit, but you can see it as coming from the INVISV server instead of a specific user. It will then route your information to its final destination.
Can MPRs replace VPNs?
Therefore, MPRs seem to have the potential to better protect your data online without fear of the companies involved storing or disclosing your sensitive information.
However, there is still a wide range of use cases where going for a VPN is the best option.
First, INVISV Relay and Apple Private Relay are only available for mobile devices at the moment – Android and iOS, respectively. This means that a VPN is still the best solution for surfing the web anonymously on your laptop or PC while enjoying fast connection speeds.
Furthermore, a key limitation of any MPR is that they are not designed for those looking to change their IP address. So if you want to bypass any kind of online restriction, whether it's your school or workspace firewall or your government's online censorship, you still need a good VPN to do it. .
One of the most popular VPN uses doesn't even have anything to do with security: it's streaming. By connecting to various servers around the world, VPN users can spoof their virtual location and access streaming content that is unavailable or prohibitively expensive in their own region. Since MPRs do not affect your virtual location, this is not an option.
"What we're really trying to emphasize is that there's a different way of protecting privacy that people should be doing," says Raghavan. "We're trying to provide something convenient for the average user that will just improve their privacy without having to rely on promises from anyone."
So for those who are simply looking to protect their browsing and decouple their identity from their browsing habits, an MPR is a good option. However, if you're looking for any of the other benefits that VPNs traditionally offer, an MPR can't offer you.
