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NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

torguard.net

51–60 of 164 posts

Re: NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

#52

Had a quick skim; it seems at a glance like someone from TorGuard badmouthed NordVPN on a youtube comment ( sigh ), so NordVPN apparently in response threatened to disclose "trade secret information obtained by NordVPN regarding TorGuard’s systems" it obtained via a hosting provider TorGuard used which is owned by the NordVPN people. This apparently involved some pretty sketchy stuff like sending people to the house…

It’s not uncommon for ISPs to voluntarily tap and sell traffic data to government agencies - perhaps this is another case of that.

Re: NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

#53
post #41

NordVPN response https://nordvpn.com/blog/torguard-lawsuit/

"It all started when we received information that led us to finding a TorGuard server configuration file lying in the open on the internet... We hoped that after providing this vital assistance towards securing TorGuard’s infrastructure, they would also cease with their illegal defamation campaign." So nord is shitty for digging up dirt on torguard because they were mean to them online and torguard is shitty for havi…

Try mullvad.net.

A bunch of hackers in Sweden. You can pay without exposing any information about yourself and they support wireguard (even help pay for and doing their own development on it).

I meet some of them personally on hacker conferences as well and they knew what they were talking about.

Re: NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

#54

Had a quick skim; it seems at a glance like someone from TorGuard badmouthed NordVPN on a youtube comment ( sigh ), so NordVPN apparently in response threatened to disclose "trade secret information obtained by NordVPN regarding TorGuard’s systems" it obtained via a hosting provider TorGuard used which is owned by the NordVPN people. This apparently involved some pretty sketchy stuff like sending people to the house…

> What kind of 'trade secret information' could a vpn provider be blackmailed with though?

According to TorGuard's blog post they stole information from an install script that was allegedly used at C7 hosting:

https://torguard.net/blog/when-bug-bounties-border-on-blackm...

An installer script could easily give an attacker insight into internal TorGuard IP addresses that would otherwise be hidden.

My guess is these internal IP addresses from whatever was stolen were targeted with DDOS.

Re: NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

#55
post #53
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It all started when we received information that led us to finding a TorGuard server configuration file lying in the open on the internet... We hoped that after providing this vital assistance towards securing TorGuard’s infrastructure, they would also cease with their illegal defamation campaign." So nord is shitty for digging up dirt on torguard because they were mean to them online and torguard is shitty for havi…

Try mullvad.net. A bunch of hackers in Sweden. You can pay without exposing any information about yourself and they support wireguard (even help pay for and doing their own development on it). I meet some of them personally on hacker conferences as well and they knew what they were talking about.

I would second for Mullvad too.

It's been the only VPN provider that has ticked all my boxes.

Re: NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

#57
From NordVPN response:

> It all started when we received information that led us to finding a TorGuard server configuration file lying in the open on the internet.

It's highly doubtful that's some random person will send some security vulnerabilities about a company to another unrelated company. It's more probable that NordVPN had its own team trying to hack or at least test Torguard defenses. That makes the DDoS allegations more believable.

Re: NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

#58
post #13

NordVPN is by far the shittiest VPN service I have ever used. They billed me twice, two months in a row, and getting them to fix it was like pulling teeth. This is not to mention the hard time I had actually using the service, between random inability to connect and outages. They have ISP-level arrogance, without the lock-in. I have no idea how they're still in business. So I'd be very inclined towards believing this…

Can anyone recommend another VPN provider, than Nord or Torguard? Main use case is for using public WiFi when travelling.

Re: NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure, their response could be fabricated too. I'm interested in if Torguard has any evidence of them physically approaching their employee. > Within an hour of this in-person and unannounced visit, the same TorGuard contractor received unsolicited correspondence from an employee at NordVPN. This correspondence stated that NordVPN had received certain of TorGuard’s confidential and trade secret information and…

What if I told you that a lot of these "VPN providers" were shell companies built to explicitly facilitate access and tools for crime / espionage with the premise of having users there as cover.

Oh trust me, I'm well aware of "VPN providers". Just checkout luminati.io . See how they offer an SDK so "You can offer the user a choice between advertisements or a bit of background data usage"? I asked, and they are only interested in partners with 100k active users a month. Right, like a legitimate company with that many users is going to use luminati.

Or oxylabs.io who I think owns luminati?

I'm also aware that many of the VPNs are owned by the same parent companies.

And also that VPNs are ridiculously over marketed. They don't "add security" for most people, they just move who you're trusting from your ISP to the VPN company. Right, like I want to trust a company registered in Panama with no other existence outside of this year not to sell my data.

---

tl;dr - I don't trust any of them. If I want a "VPN" I just ssh-tunnel into a VPS from an established company that I purchase with a different account. Could the VPS provider do fishy stuff? Sure, but I trust them a lot more then these "VPN" providers.

Re: NordVPN sued by Torguard for blackmail [pdf]

#60
post #13

NordVPN is by far the shittiest VPN service I have ever used. They billed me twice, two months in a row, and getting them to fix it was like pulling teeth. This is not to mention the hard time I had actually using the service, between random inability to connect and outages. They have ISP-level arrogance, without the lock-in. I have no idea how they're still in business. So I'd be very inclined towards believing this…

Can anyone recommend another VPN provider, than Nord or Torguard? Main use case is for using public WiFi when travelling.

Private Internet Access. Besides providing great service, they sponsor a lot of free and open source software and services, like Freenode IRC.
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