What happened to Xerobank ?

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by Fly, Oct 13, 2017.

  1. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2007
    Posts:
    2,201
    I know it´s long gone ... but as both privacy and anonymity on the internet are rapidly decreasing, the thought occurred to me.

    After some digging for Xerobank and Steve Topletz, I have only questions. Steve Topletz made some very good points, like multihop, servers located in the right jurisdiction etc. From a formal and technical point of view, what he offered was almost perfect.

    One can see the ads for all kinds of services that promise anonymity. I'm not up to date with current 'vendors'.

    A few thread on Wilders': https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/xerobank-questions.281212/page-22#post-1828969

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/xerobank-questions.281212/page-25#post-1840742

    References to 'clarion'.

    Anyway, does anyone know what really happened to Xerobank or Steve ? Are there organizations that offer similar services ? One wonders if what he offered was too good to be true, especially in today's environment. Why would the 'powers that be' allow such a situation ?
     
  2. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2011
    Posts:
    9,252
    Steve? He seems to have dropped off the Internet. The last thing that I saw about him, some years ago, was a Russian marital gift registry entry. As I recall, he married XeroBank's PR person. Perhaps they're using other personas.

    I didn't know Steve in meatspace. So I can't exclude the possibility that "Steve Topletz" and the other XeroBank staff were all just personas. It's unlikely, given his appearance at conferences. And I've corresponded with people who claimed to know him. But o_O

    Anyway, Steve and crew developed XeroBank, under contract, as a private front end for the proposed SWANsat near-earth-orbit satellite network. You can find stuff about that online. I believe that XeroBank was primarily a Cryptohippie reseller. Perhaps they also relied on other VPN services.

    But the main SWANsat developer died, and the project collapsed.
     
  3. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2007
    Posts:
    2,201
    Are there any services that offer a product similar to Xerobank ? I I don´t just mean ´dual hop´.
     
  4. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2011
    Posts:
    9,252
    What was so special about XeroBank?

    OK, email ... so use ProtonMail or CounterMail. Or c**k.li ;)

    Linux VM with a VPn client? Well, just do that ;)

    I don't recall anything else that special.
     
  5. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2007
    Posts:
    2,201
    @mirmir,

    At least in theory Xerobank would be very good in some ways ...

    Here is one thread: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/xerobank-questions.281212/page-22

    The multiplexing, location of jurisdiction of the service, ownership/location of the server etc.

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thr...r-proxies-not-us-secure-as-most-think.259885/

    'XeroBank uses lots of techniques to minimize the attack opportunity, using multiplexing, crowding optimization, and multiple nodes. This attack cannot be performed trivially against XeroBank users, and not a local, domestic, national, or non-specialized multinational organization has adequate capability to defeat our techniques.'

    In theory it did sound good. I just don't know about those VPNs that are available atm !
     
  6. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 1, 2011
    Posts:
    9,252
    Yeah, Steve did write some great stuff :)

    I'm not sure what "multiplexing" means in the VPN context. Maybe it just means routing one VPN through another, what I call nested chains. Except that it'd be the provider doing it, rather than users. As I've said, XeroBank may have used VPN services from multiple providers, not just Cryptohippie. So they could have been doing multihop by multiplexing. By routing the first hop through Cryptohippie, and the next one through another provider. Or perhaps they worked with Anarplex (anarplex.net) which does darknet peering, and seems associated with Cryptohippie.
     
  7. Fly

    Fly Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2007
    Posts:
    2,201
    @mirimir or anyone else,

    Not really the subject of this thread ... some time ago I was looking for some old threads about https ... downsides of https, someone wrote about that, I don't recall the author. I'd like to take a look at that stuff again, but you know how it is with old sources ...

    @mirimir ,

    Some good theory you wrote ... I'll check it out.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2017
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.