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Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

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Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#341

Post by smsm42 »

tsukikage wrote: post #115
asoneth wrote: post #97

> After demonstrating that this is indeed how our service works and them consulting the prosecutor they left without taking anything Setting aside impacts on customers, I wonder how common seizures would need to be to support a purely financial case that businesses that are known to not store identifying information are therefore less likely to incur the cost and effort of scrambling to replace seized hardware.

I did notice that phrase doing a lot of work there. I'm actually super curious: when a bunch of goons turn up on your doorstep fully expecting to cart away boxes of electronics, /how on earth/ do you "demonstrate that this is indeed how our service works", there and then on the spot, in a sufficiently convincing manner that they leave again empty-handed?

In the US, the goons would probably take everything that had a plug, and the owners would spend a year or two getting their stuff back, if they are lucky. And, the goons enjoy total immunity so if they stole anything on the way, tough cookies. Example: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicksibilla/2019/09/17/federal-...

Hopefully in Sweden it works differently.

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#342

Post by smsm42 »

kkielhofner wrote: post #280
RoyGBivCap wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In America maybe. This was in Sweden.

Yes it was. I don't understand how you could have a functioning legal system anywhere if a search warrant can be neutralized by saying "I don't have that" without any kind of search taking place.

If the search warrant says "take servers containing information about X" and the search team asks which servers contain information about X and gets answer "none" which they have reason to believe it's true - then there's no point taking anything and not taking anything would not hurt the function of the legal system. Of course cops may go on a power trip and take stuff anyway to show how powerful they are, but that has nothing to do with the legal system. Apparently these cops weren't of that sort, congrats to them.

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#343

Post by DoItToMe81 »

rasengan wrote: post #238
commoner wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm satisfied with the transparency Mullvad has shown by publishing its 9 audits[1] and with their efforts to ask for as little information from users as possible. I also appreciate how Mullvad releases up-to-date source code for all of its software clients, which I consider a bare minimum for any VPN to even be considered.[2] Private Internet Access, on the other hand, does not release up-to-date source code for its…

commoner - Thank you for this comment, and I think it's definitely fair to trust in Mullvad given these transparencies. The sequence of events are simply peculiar to me, and doesn't seem like a professional police operation. That said, I've been keenly watching Mullvad and agree with you that it's rock-solid in transparency which is the number one reason to use/not use a VPN service, if for privacy. I salute Mullvad…

Or, you could just buy Monero with a giftcard.

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#344

Post by dannyw »

grvgr wrote: post #327
RonMarken wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have further information on potential malice by Private Internet Access or employees?

There are some links on my profile if you're curious. Bonus: 1. Mark Karpeles has nothing to do with PIA: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21821832 2. Kape is a shit show: https://old.reddit.com/r/PrivateInternetAccess/comments/11ej... 3. Jonathan Roudier has nothing to do with WeVPN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35561337 much more to come...

These are pretty serious allegations, and as the ex-CIO of PIA, you certainly have the credibility to make them. However, drip-feeding various circumstantial links do not really help your case, and HN comments is not the best medium to make them.

I'd suggest creating a website or page, and writing out your allegations in detail and instead linking that here.

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#345

Post by yencabulator »

password4321 wrote: post #127
input_sh wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've invested a lot of resources in what they call "diskless infrastructure", as in everything's in server's RAM. I presume it wouldn't be difficult to argue that as soon as you shut off a server to transfer it away, things they're looking for would be lost.

HotPlug allows hot seizure and removal of computers from the field https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=982930 (2009) https://wiebetech.com/products/hotplug-field-kit/

Mullvad's RAM-based architecture is more of a "look, we can't accidentally log things, we don't have disk to log things on" than "there's no way to capture the secrets this particular server holds".
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