Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

wifimask.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 111 posts

Re: Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

#71

Post by 01CGAT »

krn wrote: post #69
01CGAT wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All servers are purchased from Digital Ocean only at the moment. I think it is very important to buy servers from a thrustworthy party especially in the VPN business, even if that means we pay a little bit extra. VPN is a brutal business. But because we are bootstrapped and thus no screaming investors/banks behind our backs and we are a small team, costs are low and there's no one who can pull the plug but ourselves.…

> All servers are purchased from Digital Ocean only at the moment. Are there any legal or technical reasons to prefer DigitalOcean over OVH and Hetzner? They seem to be both, much more cost-efficient, and much more privacy-oriented. > What would your feature request be? WireGuard.

I have tested both OVH and Hetzner, Digital Ocean's speed is much faster and stable worldwide.

I'm definitely keeping an eye on WireGuard, it is very promising.

Re: Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

#72

Post by KayMW »

01CGAT wrote: post #15
zhte415 wrote: post #9

First, it looks good like you declare who you are. Many VPN providers seem to want to hide their real identities which is a big red flag. I couldn't see from the website what your VPN is based on in terms of protocol? Or home brewed? OpenVPN? Have you had 3rd party audits? Have you considered alternative payment forms? Such as Bitcoin or other? From your Terms of Service 'What we do not allow on or from our network..…

Thank you for your questions and feedback! WifiMask uses OpenVPN for the macOS app and IKEv2/IPSec for iOS. We haven't had 3rd party audits yet, this is definitely on our wish list, because we understand it's all about trust. Alternative payments like bitcoin are on the list as well, we aim for total anonymity for our users, payments are part of that. To be honest we can't track any illegal activity, because we have…

Then... May I ask why only Apple devices are officially supported right now？

Re: Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

#73

Post by vincentmarle »

jna_sh wrote: post #47
itcrowd wrote: post #41

As a minor nitpick, I dislike the term "Holland" when referring to the Netherlands. Additionally, you're based in Den Bosch, which is not even in Holland. (you say "made in Holland" in your logo)

I get why though. I frequently get blank looks from non-Europeans when I say I live in the Netherlands, and have to add a reluctant "Holland."

I often have to add an "Amsterdam" in there as well.

Re: Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

#74

Post by Someone »

jacquesm wrote: post #56
itcrowd wrote: post #41

As a minor nitpick, I dislike the term "Holland" when referring to the Netherlands. Additionally, you're based in Den Bosch, which is not even in Holland. (you say "made in Holland" in your logo)

You can blame the Dutch Tourism board for that, they unilaterally declared 'The Netherlands' to be too complicated for marketing purposes and decided on Holland. https://www.nbtc.nl/ So, from on high: Den Bosch is now also in Holland, as are Maastricht, Enschede, Middelburg and Groningen, to great chagrin of those living there. It's been a major point of contention between the NBTC and almost all of the rest of the c…

"they unilaterally declared 'The Netherlands' to be too complicated for marketing purposes”

That is history :-). https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2019/11/08/new-interna... (3 weeks ago):

"From now on the Netherlands and the Kingdom of the Netherlands can be recognised internationally by a new logo. The logo is characterised by two symbols: NL and a stylised orange tulip. The logo replaces the much used ‘Holland tulip’ of the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions’ (NBTC)”

I think it will be ‘a while’ before ‘Holland’ is gone, if only because ’Nederland’ doesn’t work well in cheering on sports teams.

Re: Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

#76

Post by jacquesm »

Someone wrote: post #74
jacquesm wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can blame the Dutch Tourism board for that, they unilaterally declared 'The Netherlands' to be too complicated for marketing purposes and decided on Holland. https://www.nbtc.nl/ So, from on high: Den Bosch is now also in Holland, as are Maastricht, Enschede, Middelburg and Groningen, to great chagrin of those living there. It's been a major point of contention between the NBTC and almost all of the rest of the c…

"they unilaterally declared 'The Netherlands' to be too complicated for marketing purposes” That is history :-). https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2019/11/08/new-interna... (3 weeks ago): "From now on the Netherlands and the Kingdom of the Netherlands can be recognised internationally by a new logo. The logo is characterised by two symbols: NL and a stylised orange tulip. The logo replaces the much used ‘Holland…

That's great news. I was in the midst of that when it was first announced and the NBTC still shows the old logo. Excellent - and very timely - news. I never did like the 'Holland' bit, it seemed like a dumbed down version, marketeers taking over tradition.

Re: Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

#78

Post by zhte415 »

01CGAT wrote: post #15
zhte415 wrote: post #9

First, it looks good like you declare who you are. Many VPN providers seem to want to hide their real identities which is a big red flag. I couldn't see from the website what your VPN is based on in terms of protocol? Or home brewed? OpenVPN? Have you had 3rd party audits? Have you considered alternative payment forms? Such as Bitcoin or other? From your Terms of Service 'What we do not allow on or from our network..…

Thank you for your questions and feedback! WifiMask uses OpenVPN for the macOS app and IKEv2/IPSec for iOS. We haven't had 3rd party audits yet, this is definitely on our wish list, because we understand it's all about trust. Alternative payments like bitcoin are on the list as well, we aim for total anonymity for our users, payments are part of that. To be honest we can't track any illegal activity, because we have…

Appreciate the replies, thanks.

Re: Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

#79

Post by bradknowles »

01CGAT wrote: post #35
01CGAT wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Remy! Thanks for your support! :-)

Oh, and if anyone wants to know, WifiMask doesn't run on Windows, it's all Linux. ;-)

What can you tell us about the rest of your stack?

What language(s) do you use?

What libraries do you use?

What static and dynamic security analysis tools do you use?

What style guides and code best practices do you use?

Where do you host your code?

Where are your backups?

Where are your POPs located?

Have you had any pen tests run?

Re: Show HN: A small bootstrapped independent VPN company in the Netherlands

#80

Post by nvrspyx »

KayMW wrote: post #72
01CGAT wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your questions and feedback! WifiMask uses OpenVPN for the macOS app and IKEv2/IPSec for iOS. We haven't had 3rd party audits yet, this is definitely on our wish list, because we understand it's all about trust. Alternative payments like bitcoin are on the list as well, we aim for total anonymity for our users, payments are part of that. To be honest we can't track any illegal activity, because we have…

Then... May I ask why only Apple devices are officially supported right now？

I have no affiliation with the service, but I assume that:

1. They're small

2. They're new

3. Their team has more experience developing for Apple devices, thus it was quicker to release for those devices first before tackling Windows, Android, and/or Linux.

What they could do in the meantime is create a web-based tool to generate configurations for OpenVPN and/or Wireguard, like Mullvad does.

Post reply on HN