3 ms·

VPNs are the perfect vehicle for selling something warm and fuzzy to the masses with minimal deliverables. I place them right up there with military grade encry

VPNs are the perfect vehicle for selling something warm and fuzzy to the masses with minimal deliverables. I place them right up there with military grade encryption.

m463 7y ago
Now that you mention it, "military grade x" sounds like something solid and unobtainable by civilians. But looking deeper, "military grade x" where x is not a weapon prohibited to civilians usually isn't that interesting. At a nearby surplus store you can buy MRE's and military clothing side by side with normal work clothes and camping gear. After a short time you realize civilians can get tastier MREs, boots and clothing that fit and work better... and they are lower priced.
- blackflame7000 7y ago
  I was a software dev for the military and typically the encryptions used are generally the same ones available to the public (AES, RSA, TLS). The difference is that the keys are longer that standard, ie AES-256/512, RSA-4096, TLS1.3. Additionally military grade security means multiple layers of protection. So lets say a wifi-link is protected via AES-256, there might also be channel hopping technology involved to make jamming and eavesdropping difficult. Military grade is basically overkill for most situations unless your life literally depends on it.
  - tomjen3 7y ago
    Doesn't wifi use frequency hopping too? Or is that bluetooth?
    - blackflame7000 7y ago
      That's done to avoid interference and happens as minimally as possible which makes for easier signal processing. Military communications actively switch frequencies many times per second in unison according to highly secure crypto-variables. This makes jamming and eavesdropping very difficult because its hard to tell active channels from brief background static. Bluetooth, on the other hand, has about 80 channels about 1mhz apart and it tries to bond as many as possible for parallel transfers. This is why when you are far away from a bluetooth device the transfer speeds degrade rapidly.
- johntash 7y ago
  "military grade x" can also mean whatever was the cheapest and/or the lowest bid.

VPNs are the perfect vehicle for selling something warm and fuzzy to the masses with minimal deliverables. I place them right up there with military grade encryption.

m463 7y ago

Now that you mention it, "military grade x" sounds like something solid and unobtainable by civilians. But looking deeper, "military grade x" where x is not a weapon prohibited to civilians usually isn't that interesting. At a nearby surplus store you can buy MRE's and military clothing side by side with normal work clothes and camping gear. After a short time you realize civilians can get tastier MREs, boots and clothing that fit and work better... and they are lower priced.

blackflame7000 7y ago
I was a software dev for the military and typically the encryptions used are generally the same ones available to the public (AES, RSA, TLS). The difference is that the keys are longer that standard, ie AES-256/512, RSA-4096, TLS1.3. Additionally military grade security means multiple layers of protection. So lets say a wifi-link is protected via AES-256, there might also be channel hopping technology involved to make jamming and eavesdropping difficult. Military grade is basically overkill for most situations unless your life literally depends on it.
- tomjen3 7y ago
  Doesn't wifi use frequency hopping too? Or is that bluetooth?
  - blackflame7000 7y ago
    That's done to avoid interference and happens as minimally as possible which makes for easier signal processing. Military communications actively switch frequencies many times per second in unison according to highly secure crypto-variables. This makes jamming and eavesdropping very difficult because its hard to tell active channels from brief background static. Bluetooth, on the other hand, has about 80 channels about 1mhz apart and it tries to bond as many as possible for parallel transfers. This is why when you are far away from a bluetooth device the transfer speeds degrade rapidly.
johntash 7y ago
"military grade x" can also mean whatever was the cheapest and/or the lowest bid.