After many months of internal testing, dozens of brainstorming sessions, feedback from our loyal cadre of beta testers - and more than six months worth of work - we are really happy to release the Torrentfreedom_3.1 VPN client for our customers.




What's the big deal? A couple of things:

1. Speed: we've implemented a dynamically-adjusting protocol selection algorithm in the client, with the ability to initiate UDP connections and fallback to TCP if local network topology requires it. With UDP, we are able to take the lid off of the maximum theoretical speed - many of our beta testers have reported MORE available bandwidth using the TF_3.1 client in UDP mode than running a "naked" internet connection (due to intrinsic VPN compression functionality). Basically, unless you're stuck behind a really picky firewall or similar nannyware, with TF_3.1 you're going to see a massive increase in VPN-connected speed.

2. TUN driver cleanup: our client relies on the TUN/TAP virtual network driver, for Windows network interface. During install, the TUN drivers, while a stable and well-tested extension to Windows itself, would sometimes get 'hung' and require multiple reboots to get the install settled. This new client version 3.1 implements some improvements in that area, and we've seen a drop in TUN-related install snags to essentially zero, in our beta testing.

3. Automated failover: the TF_3.1 client implements a dynamic server-side connection algorithm that automatically parses the list of available servers in the Torrentfreedom network and settles on the fastest, most reliable option given current network conditions. This extra layer of redundancy will decrease even further the probability of transient VPN network disconnect/reconnect events.

4. Vista/Windows7 improvements: Our TF_3.0 client was tested with Vista, but at that time Vista was not very stable itself (is it ever going to be?), and we saw occasional problems during install for those customers running Vista. This 3.1 version sits on a much more Vista-friendly OpenVPN codebase, and we've seen no problems in beta testing with Vista. We've also had a few of our testers running Windows7 - and had no reported issues. Note that we CANNOT say the TF_3.1 applet is "Windows7 certified" or "Vista certified" - to get those cute little logos, you need to pay a whack of cash to Redmond and, honestly, we'd rather donate that money to a charity than hand it to Steve Ballmer. Just wanted to be clear about that.

Installing is simple: just download the client from this post, double-click, and it'll do the rest. It will determine whether you are running 32- or 64-bit Windows. The installer will automatically handle any older version of the TF client software, any old TAP drivers etc. - and do all its own post-install cleanup. It won't migrate over your userID and password from your old client - automating that just opens up a few too many structural security risks to be acceptable. If you've forgotten your password just email us and, after completing authentication, our customer service folks will reset your password for you.

Note: if you're running a Mac - good on 'ya. Also, look in this thread for Mac install tips. This installer, in this thread, won't be very useful if you try to use it directly on your Mac - not yet, anyway.

If you see any bugs, have any suggestions, or want to share your opinion about this client code feel free to do so, in this thread. It'll remain unlocked and open for posting by all.

Regards,

The Torrentfreedom team

Here's the official public announcement, for those curious about such things:



Tally ho,

Fausty

"TorrentFreedom puts the power and choice back into the hands of individual human beings, not corporate lobbyists and amoral legal attack dogs. Whatever else comes from the 'filesharing battles,' our customers won't be the sacrificial victims along the way"

I like.

I have a rather dumb question. I have purchased the Cryptocloud Service and have it set up and running properly. I downloaded the torrentfreedom 3.1 and installed it and it seems to be running properly.

My question is - is that all I need to do? I use FrostWire for torrents and such. I dont see any noticable difference speed wise - am I doing this right?

I should also point out that your email address for support bounces..

info@cryptocloud.com

I am starting to get nervous and I just signed up and paid..

Once you've installed, you do need to ask the client to connect (which I'm assuming you are doing) - the client applet puts itself down in the taskbar (or up, if your taskbar is on top of the screen), and you right-click on the little "lock" icon to control connecting and disconnecting.

To check that you're successfully logged in via our secure network, you can visit someplace like speedtest that tells you the public URL you are presenting to the internet. Or, a shortcut is to just visit the google homepage - if the ads and links come up in Dutch language, you're good to go (unless you live in Holland already, of course). Because we've got a series of distributed servers nowadays, throughout Holland and Belgium, there could be any of a range of IPs - but they will ALL be either Dutch or Danish, no question, when you are logged into either Torrentfreedom or Cryptocloud.

Once you're logged on - i.e. you click on the "connect" button in the client applet and you get the "you have successfully connected to the Torrentfreedom network" status window displayed briefly - you don't have to "do" anything else to use the secure network. One really nice thing about OpenVPN, as a framework, is that once you are running on an OpenVPN connection, ALL packets you send and receive go through that secure tunnel - until you manually disconnected from the VPN network. That includes all protocols (http, ftp, pop3, heck GOPHER if you can find it nowadays), all ports, all applications. It also includes system-level network queries such as pings and DNS resolution requests (which are a major security issue under pptp VPNs, where DNS queries can be seen, unencrypted, outside of the VPN tunnel itself).

And, unlike proxy software or even the otherwise really nice TOR network, you don't have to fiddle with individual applications to get them to "recognize" the VPN service. Because OpenVPN, and our networks, interface directly with the Windows kernel via the virtual TAP driver, the crypto and encapsulation of packets is handled at the operating system level, not by individual applications. So you don't have to tell each individual application to "use the VPN network" or anything like that - which, unfortunately, is the case for traditional proxy connections. When we designed our VPN service, we decided early on that was a "deal breaker" - it had to work seamlessly, at the operating system level, and require no fiddling for our customers to have it work securely.

So, basically, it's a one-step deal: click on the "connect" button, wait until it tells you it's connected, and you're good to go. From there on, every application you use will run over the secure network - and every packet you send and receive will be encrypted and will display an anonymous pubic IP address - not your physical IP.

Fausty

Thanks for the detailed response.

So right now I have TWO closed locks on the bottom right of my screen

Successfully connected to Cryptocloud Servers

Successfully connected to TorrentFreedom Servers

both are running

is this what my setup should look like for either surfing via www or downloading torrents via frostwire?

- I have confirmed via whatismyip and google that I am indeed connected to the netherland servers

Thanks for your help

Ok wow that's actually pretty cool. I suspect you are actually tunneling one service over an encrypted tunnel on the other service. Perhaps a bit overkill, but it's kind of interesting that it actually works. It's kind of like putting an important paper in a safe, and then locking that safe inside another safe. . .

In any case, it's not really necessary to run both at once - choose one or the other, as doubling up won't really increase security and could, in theory, slow things down. We've configured the networks of torrentfreedom and cryptocloud so that they will inter-authenticate customers between the two (as you've discovered) - this was a choice because there was some customer frustration about being in one brand, and unable to use the client for the other brand. There are some subtle differences in how the two client applets are configured - torrentfreedom does a bit more clever port-forwarding to ensure DHT functionality and so on - but over time, to be honest, they've converged more and more in terms of core functionality.

And, yes, so long as you see the Dutch google page you know you're running securely, via the private network - that will be true for all your applications. Because of how the TAP adapter binds to the operating system when you are connected, it's theoretically not possible for any IP (i.e. Internet Protocol) packets to get off of your machine without going through the secure network tunnel (until you disconnect, of course).

With respect to speed, the ideal VPN service will seem just as fast - and responsive - as your local connection is without any VPN protection. Most VPN services will feel appreciably slower, when you are connected, versus when you are not connected. Our goal with the 3.1 release, in particular, was to "narrow the gap" between protected and unprotected speed as much as possible. So, we've really hit a grand slam if when you are connected it seems. . . exactly like when you're not connected! That means we're running the network well, and that's our goal.

Also, email addresses fixed - apologies, appears someone was updating some support contact info and didn't get the addresses set back up correctly last night.

Fausty

ETA on a linux release?

I can throw together a quick linux guide in a couple hours if you want - to a certain extent, the Mac instructions are identical to linux (it's just been ages since I've set up a seedbox with Torrentfreedom).

Lemme know if you think it's worthwhile =)

Honestly, the ETA is dependent on finding a qualified candidate who is able to produce the quality of *nix installer that meets our ease-of-use standards. You'd think this would not be so difficult, but we've been in the hunt for months and are still looking. We've got roomfuls of solid network-level coders and system architects available - but when it comes to the user interface/installer work, I guess those folks keep to themselves because we're still looking for their secret Honeycomb Hideout so we can hire one to do these *nix/OSX installers.

Regards,

Fausty

I was recommended this program by a friend. My school has been blocking even the most simple and harmless of things for years (World of Warcraft and Ventrilo for example). I was just curious, though. I live on a fairly small campus. Will they be able to notice my access to such things? One the webpage it does give anonymity, is the 3.1 just as anonymous?

Blu

Absolutely, your traffic on a local network such as that will remain "anonymous." This is true for ALL of our client versions, and always has been. Note also that we do not keep customer network usage logs and never have.

Let me be more specific about what, exactly, this instantiation of "anonymity" means:

Let's say you are sitting on a bench, on campus, and connecting to the campus network via wifi. That connection, in turn, routes through the local network topology and, one way or another, eventually funnels through a gateway onto the larger internet outside your campus. Any data coming back to you, from your internet usage, will then come back through that gateway, across the local network, over the wifi hop, and to your laptop.

Now, let's assume that for whatever reason there's someone who wants to "keep an eye on" what you are doing while you are using that local network connection. They may want to do that because they are blocking certain applications (i.e. gaming) or websites, or they may be snooping for any other reason. They might even be using a [url=http://cultureghost.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=90]sophisticated network-level 'snoopware' tool. Since all of your traffic to and from the internet, when using that local network connection, has to run through that gateway server, every packet is easy to see - they can be recorded, or blocked, or whatever.

Now, if you use an encrypted VPN service, the packets you send to - and from - the internet are encrypted on that local network leg. So someone "watching" at that gateway server can still see that you are sending and receiving packets - but the contents of those packets are encrypted gibberish. Further, instead of being able to look at the packet headers and see what websites you are visiting, packets sent via a VPN service will ALL have in their header only the address of our secure server farms - the actual address is encrypted within the packet itself, and thus can't be seen by someone on that gateway server.

So, that's the part that is "encrypted" - the contents of your data packets, and their destinations. However, someone sitting at that gateway server CAN see that you are sending packets - this is called "traffic analysis." The could, in theory, notice that the pattern of the packets being sent back and forth from your laptop to the internet looks like, let's say, a relatively continuous, bidirectional stream of data - i.e. a gaming session. And they know that "you," as a local network user, are sending some kind of data back and forth to the internet - even using an encrypted VPN like ours (there are some techniques, in theory, for working around this kind of thing - packet padding, asynchronous transmission obfuscation, etc. - but it's all pretty theoretical and not really practical for 99.9% of folks).

In a nutshell, your packets when using a VPN service will all basically look like traffic back and forth to a secure (i.e. HTTPS / port 440) website, like an online banking site. Rather than being able to peek inside those packets and see what you're doing, they all just look like gibberish - being sent to a series of commercial IP addresses for our server farms in Europe.

Regards,

Fausty

You replied and now both my original message and your reply are gone?

Apologies - I've only split your question and the replies into a separate thread, so it's easier for others to find in the customer resources forum.

Regards,

Fausty