What happened to ShadowVPN?

I was a satisfied customer for a few months and now I haven't been able to connect to their service and no response from their support and I've sent several replies and tried to contact them through their site. In the past they've at least responded.

 

Maybe you went over your 15 G's, or whatever? I went over the 75G's that Xerobank offers twice.

 

No, a business partner of mine also uses their service (based on my recommendation) and he's having the same issue.

Also, it happened 2 weeks ago shortly a week after I sent my payment.

I really don't download anything just use my pc for work.

I've been a customer of there's for about 4-5 months. My surfing habits haven't changed.

Plus, why aren't they responding to any of my e-mails or my inquiries from their site?

 

well it just goes to show you that xerobank isnt as holy as everyone on this board seems to think.the fact you aren't getting a reply to your emails and that steve hasnt replied to this forum with a response shows me that xerobank is no better than all the other companys that steve says you need to watch out for.

 

ShadowVPN is not the same thing as Xerobank and, in my knowledge, Steve is not responsible for ShadowVPN support.
Anyways, since he might have a better insight in the matter than others, he will probably let us know if something is going on with shadowVPN.

 

well thats not true because if i remember rightly steve was promoting shadow as a off cut of xerobank untill there was a prob he then said contact there support

and one final note steve is responsable because when i tryed there service and had a prob with them cutting me off he was the one who got me new credentials to get back onto the site which i declined because he knew the user pass

 

While I cannot disclose if Geazer is or was a client, he may right about his facts, but wrong about his deduction based on those facts. ShadowVPN is an entirely different service. ShadowVPN is organized by a private group and run on servers leased from and managed by Xero Networks. They are in charge of admin and running of their service and their customer support. We drop in for x hours per month to maintenance their systems, which does include some cursory admin work. If I'm asked to look at their admin panel and see messages in their admin email queue, I have the ability to help out, and will if I can.

 

this thread if i read it right is you telling eveyone about your new 1 hop service shadow vpn

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=228906&highlight=shadow

now all i am saying is i remember peeps having certain probs and your reply recently was contact shadow vpn it is not xerobank

quote

Default Re: Privacy and anonymous browsing
Quote:
Originally Posted by badjoey
steve so your shadow vpn is going to have a netherlands ip

Correct.

 

Err... But I thought ShadowVPN was XB's discount brand

Atleast that is what the Xerobank Blog by Steve says:

Source (Xerobank Blog):
http://blogshadow.xerobank.com/2009/01/new-developments-and-shadowvpn.html

 

with the added evidence by the poster after me i think you should email steve to arrange your refund because it is clear steve/xerobank= shadowvpn

 

I don't care about the money. I care about the service. This was a very good service for me. Now, any VPN service I try fails the xerobank anonymity test. I believe in what Xerobank and Steve say about how anonymity works and believe they know what they are doing.

The only thing I can guess is that either too many people started going to ShadowVPN instead of Xerobank and started effecting their sales. Or, AlertPay wasn't working out for ShadowVPN and they have shut down until further notice. I remember when I was dealing with AlertPay I had quite a few issues. At times I went up to 2.5 months of using ShadowVPN without being charged by Alertpay.

Besides that, I have no idea. Just very dissapointed that ShadowVPN isn't around.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Steve, you've decribed ultrsurf/ultrareach as malware.

Some time has passed.

Do you have any new information, or some kind of timetable for when we can get some information ? (You mentioned a third-party non-disclosure agreement) And is it in any way related to 'deanonymizer' ?

 

i would not worrie to much about there anonymity tester because even on there own ips recently they failed the test if i remember right and the answer from steve was ye it is because we have not entered them into the anonymity checker so it is flawed as far as i am concerened

 

geazer you are right xerobanks anonymity test is not a true test because every anonymizing service fails except for xerobank.which is a load of bull because xerobank is not the only true service out there and actually i dont think its as good or trust worthy as most. especially coming from a guy who over 3 months ago now told everyone on this board that ultrasurf was superbad and that everyone should stop using it cause bad stuff could happen and now here we are 3 months later and he still cant give proof to back up his claim and yet he keeps giving real lame excuses like oh third party agreements and such.well anyone with half a brain should be able to tell at this point that hes full of it cause if ultrasurf was as bad as he made it out to be do you not think other security people and antivirus vendors would have issued some kind of alert to people.

 

well i dont know nothing about ultrasuf but one thing that pisses me off is the way he slates everyone elses vpn now here on this thread you can clearly see from the ops last post he trully believes what steve says because of his comments about the anonimity checker

now steve is promoting is services here which is not good considering his latest trick about shadow vpn not being xerobank which is clearly not true so i think that has to be bought up in here to let others of shadow vpn know that steve/xerobank is shadowvpn

i hope the mods look into this because i dont think this is good for new members on wilders

if the mods think anything i wrote is wrong please delete

 

I use non-XB VPN service which gives me all the functionality and anonymity I need. I really don't believe that in a real world scenario my VPN solution would fail me , any more than XB.

@scrty001: just because other VPN services don't have reps/experts/ppl on this forum it doesn't mean their product is by any measure bad. Almost all VPN services have forums or support facility. Please ask them if they really are worse than XB and learn of the other side of the story.

 

Softpedia certifies that UltraSurf is 100% adware, spyware and virus free.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Security-Related/UltraSurf.shtml

Many AVs flag it as malware because it helps users bypass company firewalls. You can see here the excitement it whips up among admins at Symantec Forum (as an example):
http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/ultrasurf
http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/most-detailed-way-block-ultrasurf

You can read here the response from UltraReach to being flaged it as malware:
http://www.ultrareach.com/usercenter_en.htm#safety_virus

 

look at the rumor mill that sets up when i step away from the terminal for a couple of days. no faith, you guys, no faith.

1. Ultra Surf will be revealed soon, you won't have to wait much longer. The truth is horrifying.
2. I'm not affiliated with the ShadowVPN project, just XB, but I'll tell anyone about it who asks. My understanding is that it is a joint project by one of the XN engineers and a member of Distributed City. It is not something that can't be duplicated by XN. If you want your own private-label VPN service managed by Xero Networks, you have to contact admin@xeronetworks.ag to get it setup.
3. The anonymity checker is IP based. It does threat assessment based on what it knows about your IP. New IPs of new services may take some time to become entered into the databases. Lots of your prayers and gripes have been answered, you just don't know it yet. There is a bunch of new stuff coming later this year from XB. One thing I heard about today was a anonymity meter that measures your anonymity live based on your traffic and how well it fits the traffic mix sets, and will change based on if you are browsing, doing torrents, voip, etc.

 

Steve has never been caught in a bigger lie. Steve is acting like he has nothing to do with ShadowVPN yet he announced the service here on Wilders. He takes a support issue "personally" because it sounds like fun to help someone with a ShadowVPN problem, it's in this thread:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=230466

Does this post sound like someone not involved in ShadowVPN?
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1374585&postcount=19
Or this?
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1365047&postcount=8

Finally, as I pointed out back in August of '08, ShadowVPN was registered by Steve Topletz!
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1294010&postcount=18

He has always tried to get away with spinning things his way, but the truth prevails. He always has excuses, but we're always asked to believe something different than the obvious. Spin, spin, spin. So many trust and believe him when the facts say something else.

By the way, when and where are you on the DefCon schedule?
http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-17/dc-17-schedule.html

 

What is this supposed to prove, and how is helping someone with a support issue with ShadowVPN bad? I'm sure he knows the people at ShadowVPN?

Saying that XB can mix exit node traffic with ShadowVPN is somehow bad, and angers you?
Giving information about ShadowVPN (which I'm sure Steve is familiar with, regardless if he's involved with them or not) makes you mad?
These links you provide are supposed to prove some sort of theory of yours?!? Just because Steve knows about ShadowVPN, and XB mixes exit node traffic with them, means that he's directly involved with them? And even if he is, this is somehow bad?

Interesting...I turned up this info for a whois on ShadowVPN...Incidentally the same whois info that Steve linked for you way back in August of '08.

http://www.who.is/whois/shadowvpn.com/

I fail to see what "spin" you're talking about...I don't know what your problem is with XB and Steve, but perhaps you should take it up with them directly rather than spreading FUD in these forums.

 

seriously axle what is steve giving you a free subscription to xerobank or what.are you kidding me with this crap.of course its bad that steve is connected to xerobank and shadowvpn and tries to tell people he is not,especially when people are on this board trying to reach someone cause they paid for a service they cant access.this goes to his credibility and as far as i am concerned he has none.he promoted shadowvpn on this forum and than when people say that shadow vpn is down he comes off like oh well thats not connected to me.really how dumb are you cause i have some swamp land down in florida i will sell you.you xerobank followers need to open your eyes and realize his service is no better than most.

 

Axle00:

The WHOIS information was changed. If you go back and read that entire thread Steve ADMITS to registering ShadowVPN.com. If you're a Gold member at DomainTools you can see for yourself as you can view the history of all changes in a domain name. But he really has nothing to do with ShadowVPN?? He posts about taking support issues and getting right on them, but he doesn't have anything to do with ShadowVPN? When things go awry he acts like they're some distant 4th cousin?

I never said any of that was bad, I said it was not the truth. It's about credibility. Whenever I see glaring inconsistencies I take them up in XeroBank threads, why should I take them up with Steve personally? These are public discussions, are they not?

Even when somebody else spins for him, they don't address the issue directly. You act like I am mad or angry or think something is bad -- when that has nothing to do with anything. I simply showed how, once again, Steve is not telling the whole truth.

FUD? It may seem that way to a Xerobank user who doesn't want to see the truth, but from outside the Xerobank sphere when you add it all up - it's posts like yours (and Steve's own spinning) that is the FUD. Was there ever any greater FUD than Steve and his UltraSurf fiasco? Ending up telling us he can't tell us what he discovered? He cites some sort of third party "agreement" not to reveal the specifics of the UltraSurf malware? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't - but there's been no proof. We'll see.

Surely I'm not the only one who has noticed how everything, no matter how big or small, is "right around the corner?" Whether it's exposing something or its XB features, it's always something "right around the corner." Even XeroBank users would have to admit that he's made so many promises about features that are "a few days away" that turns into weeks, months and never! That isn't FUD - that's the truth!

He keeps talking about his upcoming presentation at DefCon 17 (late July & Early August) yet he has not appeared on their speakers list or their schedule on the web. When I wrote and asked they said they had no plans for Steve Topletz, or anybody associated with Xerobank to speak. Maybe he will, maybe he won't, but so far, again - it's more of the same.

 

We know, I don't how many times we've gone down this track. I believe we should start a betting pool on how many spins/times steve shots himself in the foot. 1-1, steve uses techincal language to spin a mistake; 2-1 proclaims every other anonymizing product sucks; age of the universe*infinity steve actually comes straight and tells the world how xerobank is really owned by and what part he actually does play.

Whats more sad is that steve actually believes he can save his credibility with spin and demeaning other products where the real truth lies in actually being open and truthful is something happens. If services like coste and ironkey to name a few went around and did this they would be out of a job tomorrow, but they are open and truthful about what they will protect you against and don't overhype on what to expect, you just get an open dialogue. This is why they are not only crediable services but have a loyal and trustful relationship with their customers.

 

I admit it: I registered a domain, and help users when it isn't my responsibility. It's a conspiracy! And it's evil! ::Tinfoil hats out::

This is just one of those things that when you don't get to see what is behind the curtain, the imagination runs wild. It reminds me of the character Chigur from No Country For Old Men. The reason he was so imposing wasn't because of how brutal he was, there are many more violent movie characters (rambo et al), it was because he was so mysterious. You couldn't understand him, and there was no info to cling on to, no way to get a handle on his savagery or his code of ethics. People aren't as excited by Good or Evil as much as they are The Unknown (UFO, CIA, JFK, VPN).

This goes back to a dynamic that is not explained: Privacy and security are two halves of the same coin. One requires darkness, the other requires sunshine, like day and night. Transparency (sunshine) is appropriate for security models (day), as you need to see how the machinery works to know that there is indeed security as a program would purport. Opacity (darkness) is required for privacy models (night), as invisibility requires a thing to be unseen by definition, otherwise it isn't doing it's job. A privacy company that explains it's inner workings that aren't related to security/public aspects is leaking information, which helps attackers by carving out a silhouette of attack vectors. There is no privacy or anonymity that is transparent, and there is no security that is opaque. One hybrid model is JAP and Tor. They balance opacity and transparency similarly: the program workings and sourcecode (security aspect) are transparent, but the operations (circuits) are opaque. If you had transparency in the circuits and data, you would have eliminated the anonymity they provide. So the law is preserved: Privacy cannot be transparent, Security cannot be opaque.

The point of this is that you don't get to know everything about the operations of a privacy service if it has integrity, but you wouldn't be remiss in knowing the security it runs on. So in the unknown, there will always be mystery, but don't let your imagination run away with you.

And don't worry if you've let yourself get carried away, the system is cyclical: 1. I Claim 2. People Doubt 3. I Deliver ... It is always like this when dealing with the extraordinary. For those of you that have been patient, you will be rewarded. For those that doubt, you will be proven wrong again.

My speaking engagement is at BlackHat, and i'm staying for DefCon. Stay tuned for Aug 1st.

 

Finally some more people start to see what xerobank aka metropipe is. Everything is based on words, no proof, no compliance certificate for their so called fips-140 compliance. (nowhere registered) just words some shady figure in germany told them they're compliant. Beside some other history, i would NEVER trust this service even if it came to me in a vision.

I don't want to start ranting about the history before all this, but this is what i noticed when it comes to steve and his one-man show xerobank and shadowvpn:


- lots of words, no proof of anything
- their anonymity tester fails EVERY service just not their own (or sometimes even their own)
- everyone who has critic on xerobank like me is called names or said to be competition
- they randomly chose ultrasurf and said it's malware, lots of words but here we are ... no proof, nothing.
- xerobank is using names like defcon, blackhat etc ... all PR and marketing
- every newbie who still drinks milk from the breast is suckered into xerobank by steve whispering how big and bad the rest of the world is compared to xerobank and says "come to daddeh".

I bet this so called deanonymizer tools only works like most do; having java enabled and those with IE are anyway ******.