Introducing Sentinel
We want to tell you about the Sentinel project, relying on their whitepaper
Sentinel is a project that aims to provide access to the Internet in a reliable and provable way. Today, there is a massive collection of data on the Internet, and at the same time, the growth of global censorship, which together violates the basic human rights to access information and privacy.
dVPN
VPN applications are used all over the world to access content where there are restrictions to it. At the same time, people turn to VPNs in order to ensure the security and privacy of the interaction by establishing an encrypted connection. VPN services are in high demand, but do they provide the level of security we want? We doubt it. VPN networks collect and store data about users, do not guarantee confidentiality, and therefore do not fulfill the stated goals. Almost three-quarters of free VPNs have some level of vulnerability: they share or disclose customer data, or even contain malware.
In contrast, dVPN (a term coined by Sentinel in 2017) is a reliable and holistic network that provides:
Provable encryption between the user and the server using open source transparency systems and application integrity checks. That is, a trusted party is not needed, users can simply verify themselves
Proof of Bandwidth allows the server provider to provide bandwidth in exchange for negotiated compensation from the user in a reliable and provable form
Proof of the absence of logs that relate to the user’s browsing or data history
Distributed exit nodes are dVPN servers that are owned by many participants, and they do not know the identity of the user
Distributed relay network is a network with strong management and participation to reduce the risk of bad participants, while the hosts of the output node do not know the identity of the user.
Sentinel dVPN now works on the Cosmos mainnet network.
dVPN which is built on the Sentinel platform can be used by both legal entities and individuals. In addition, Sentinel aims to collaborate with existing centralized VPNs to help them to transit to a decentralized structure. This allows VPN networks to strengthen their existing customer base, as well as expand the list of services offered.
As for developers, they can use the Sentinel protocol, created with the Cosmos SDK, to create applications.
Here are a few advantages of using Sentinel:
1) By using the Cosmos system (“account management” with public and private keys in addition to requesting nodes in the chain), creating and configuring applications (based on the Sentinel framework) is more convenient for developers. And also more profitable, compared to creating your own dVPN/VPN application.
2) Thanks to the integration of Sentinel nodes, the responsibility for managing the output nodes is removed
3) Sentinel provides end-to-end encryption between users and the servers they access, all of which is open source. This ensures the trust of the users, and also ensures the security.
Project features
The relay network is an important development of Sentinel that supports the right to privacy. It will allow users to conduct a connection through a series of “relay nodes” that ensure that the user does not directly interact with the output node. Exit nodes in operation interact directly with users, as well as with web servers on the Internet. In turn, the relay nodes only exchange data with the user, other relay nodes, or the exit node. The developers of Sentinel explain this technology as call to a third party. If the user does not want to reveal their phone number, he will have to call through his friend’s phone as a relay to mask the phone number. He will need to call a friend, who will put the user on hold and call a third party, then combine the two calls. Thus, the user’s data will not be disclosed to a third party.
The “on-chain” query system is also an important technical achievement of the project. The blockchain is used as a ledger for “node requests”, with nodes having the ability to interact and store information. So, dVPN application requests all available nodes, reading data from transactions in the dedicated dVPN Sentinel zone, filling in the list of available servers. Authentication and management are already happening along the chain. According to this architecture, the user interacts directly with the chain. And the only way to compromise the Sentinel dVPN application is to compromise the consensus based on the validator.
Proof of Bandwidth
A distinctive feature of the dVPN protocol is the “ bandwidth provability system”, which allows a person to provide their bandwidth in exchange for some negotiated compensation from the user.
The protocol implementation is based on Cosmos/Tendermint. It involves generating “bandwidth signatures” from both the service provider and the user. In fact, these are messages that are transmitted to P2P connections at a pre-configured time. The service provider and the user generate their own signatures, each of which has its own private key (signed by it). These signatures are then stored in the chain for proof of origin. If there is a discrepancy between the bandwidth exchange claims from the user and the service provider (within a pre-configured time period), the connection will be terminated due to the presence of at least 1 malicious entity in the exchange.
Sentinel token
The project has its own token. His appointments:
• Stake token for Sentinel.
• Management token. It will be used to participate in management decision-making as a form of “voting rights”. The amount of the user’s voting rights directly depends on the number of tokens that they own.
* Rewarding token to users who delegate a token to the validator.
* Means of paying for a dVPN subscription. Users will also be able to pay with real fiat money using the usual payment gateways (Google Pay, Apple Pay).
* Means of payment for advanced dVPN services. The expanded services will require users to place tokens in an escrow system that will be used for real-time payments and will be governed by the Sentinel bandwidth verification protocol. More advanced services built on Sentinel will provide users with increased privacy and a greater degree of trust through the use of escrow services, as well as network integrations focused on security.
Sentinel Organizational Structure
Sentinel consists of the Secure Network Technologies Foundation (or SNT) and a non-commercial organization focused on the implementation and development of dVPN, Exidio.
The SNT Foundation
It works to ensure the methodological organization and management of the Sentinel ecosystem itself. It is focused on providing a well-coordinated working environment.
EXIDIO
It is responsible for the technical part of the platform, as well as for the implementation of dVPN application creators. It aims to create and provide secure access to Web 3.0, by implementing dVPN-based applications. Exidio works directly with entrepreneurs and existing VPN companies
Conclusion
Recently, many blockchain projects have sought to contribute to changing the existing Internet, and bring it to a secure, confidential, and secure space that works in our best interests. The Sentinel project is no exception. His developments are very interesting and important for the development of Web 3.0.
