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looked at the report to see if they'd reviewed torguard and apparently they... don't realize it's a VPN service and think it's related to the onion router. Kind

looked at the report to see if they'd reviewed torguard and apparently they... don't realize it's a VPN service and think it's related to the onion router. Kinda undermines they're credibility a bit if they can't even identify the tools they're auditing properly.

nl 10y ago
Actually, their report is much more credible because they note the difference between TorGuard (and a few similar apps) vs normal VPNs. To actually quote the report[1]: 67% of Android VPN apps claim to provide traditional VPN services (labeled here as “VPN clients”) including enhanced security and privacy, anti-surveillance or tunnels to access geo-filtered or censored content. Note that we consider Tor clients (e.g., Orbot, Globus VPN] and TorGuard VPN client) as a separate category. That seems a pretty fair distinction. Notably, the report doesn't include the word "onion" in it at all, so I'm not sure where you got "[they] think it's related to the onion router" from. [1] https://research.csiro.au/ng/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/2016/08/paper-1.pdf https://research.csiro.au/ng/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/20...
- ajdlinux 10y ago
  Tor == "The Onion Router". TorGuard == something completely unrelated to Tor. Per the TorGuard website (https://torguard.net/faq.php https://torguard.net/faq.php): "Is TorGuard related in any way to the “tor” project? No, The reference to "tor" in TorGuard relates to "torrents" and guarding one’s privacy when using bitorrent. We are not related in any way to the “tor” project however the company does support through donations." Orbot, OTOH, is part of the Tor Project (https://www.torproject.org/docs/android.html.en https://www.torproject.org/docs/android.html.en) and Globus (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.globus.vpn&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.globus.vpn...) claims to support Tor.
  - nl 10y ago
    Well that's.. stupid. Ok, I entirely agree they (and I) are wrong. But obviously I'm going to take the position that it isn't unreasonable to think something called "TorGuard" has something to do with Tor.
    - homulilly 10y ago
      If you're just doing a google search then yeah it's reasonable. It's less so when you're a professional who's supposed to be an expert on these things. If you can't spend more than 5 seconds double checking the accuracy of your research why should I trust it?

nl 10y ago

Actually, their report is much more credible because they note the difference between TorGuard (and a few similar apps) vs normal VPNs. To actually quote the report[1]: 67% of Android VPN apps claim to provide traditional VPN services (labeled here as “VPN clients”) including enhanced security and privacy, anti-surveillance or tunnels to access geo-filtered or censored content. Note that we consider Tor clients (e.g., Orbot, Globus VPN] and TorGuard VPN client) as a separate category. That seems a pretty fair distinction. Notably, the report doesn't include the word "onion" in it at all, so I'm not sure where you got "[they] think it's related to the onion router" from. [1] https://research.csiro.au/ng/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/2016/08/paper-1.pdf https://research.csiro.au/ng/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/20...

ajdlinux 10y ago
Tor == "The Onion Router". TorGuard == something completely unrelated to Tor. Per the TorGuard website (https://torguard.net/faq.php https://torguard.net/faq.php): "Is TorGuard related in any way to the “tor” project? No, The reference to "tor" in TorGuard relates to "torrents" and guarding one’s privacy when using bitorrent. We are not related in any way to the “tor” project however the company does support through donations." Orbot, OTOH, is part of the Tor Project (https://www.torproject.org/docs/android.html.en https://www.torproject.org/docs/android.html.en) and Globus (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.globus.vpn&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.globus.vpn...) claims to support Tor.
- nl 10y ago
  Well that's.. stupid. Ok, I entirely agree they (and I) are wrong. But obviously I'm going to take the position that it isn't unreasonable to think something called "TorGuard" has something to do with Tor.
  - homulilly 10y ago
    If you're just doing a google search then yeah it's reasonable. It's less so when you're a professional who's supposed to be an expert on these things. If you can't spend more than 5 seconds double checking the accuracy of your research why should I trust it?