Sentinel Network
What is Sentinel and dVPN
Sentinel is a network in the Cosmos ecosystem, which is a decentralized peer–to-peer bandwidth market built on the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint. Sentinel provides the basis for the creation of decentralized virtual networks — dVPN.
Sentinel aims to give the ability to access the Internet in a reliable and provable way. Currently, centralized VPN companies are not secure. They collect data about users, and some of them even transfer it to third parties. Web3 needs secure, reliable and inexpensive internet access. Such access is possible with Sentinel and its dVPN.
Technology
Sentinel is a chain in the Cosmos ecosystem, which means it uses the Cosmos Hub-Zone architecture. The exchange of transactions and data of a specific dVPN application takes place in the Zones, and the management and stimulation of validators are in the Hub. dVPN applications are located either in shared Zones or in their own, depending on the bandwidth requirements of each individual application. The Zones interact with the Hub via IBC (interblock communication in Cosmos), as well as with other Hubs in the Cosmos system. Also, because of Cosmos technologies, cross-chain payments can be made in the Sentinel network. Nodes can accept different cryptocurrencies, such as ETH, BTC, ADA and others thanks to bridges. This freedom of payments between chains creates a free market economy in the network.
Sentinel also has 5 own technical solutions. Together, they provide anonymity and reliability of connections in dVPN.
1 Provable Encryption
End-to-end encryption between the user and the server, which can be confirmed using open-source application transparency and integrity verification systems. This ensures reliable connections.
2 Proof of Bandwidth
A system that provides bandwidth to server providers in exchange for compensation from the user. Since anyone can host a node, it is improtant for network to verify that the node has sufficient bandwidth to support the network. The Proof of Bandwidth protocol includes the generation of “bandwidth signatures” from both the service provider and the user. These signatures are messages consisting of bandwidth. They are transmitted over a P2P connection for a set period of time. The service provider and the user generate their own signatures, each of which is signed with their respective private key. These signatures are then stored in the chain to verify the origin. In case of a mismatch between requests for bandwidth exchange from the user and the service provider, the connection will be interrupted, even if there is at least one attacker in the exchange. This ensures the security of the connection.
The ‘Proof of Bandwidth’ protocol interacts with escrow. Escrow is a real–time payment model between a user and a service provider. It guarantees the absence of fraudulent influence on the transaction by any of the parties. The user locks a certain number of tokens in escrow before being able to establish a connection. Tokens are spend from this blocked amount on a periodic basis depending on the bandwidth consumed by the user. This is necessary for a fully decentralized approach to token issuance.
3 Proof of No Logs
It is possible to prove that logs related to user data (history, views) are not stored centrally
4 Distributed Exit Nodes
And
5 Distributed Relay Network
These two technologies are connected. They help to preserve the anonymity of the user. Here’s how it works. The exit nodes interact directly with web servers on the Internet (this is how encrypted traffic gets to the Internet). The exit nodes are owned by a large number of network participants who do not know the identity of the user. At the same time, the relay network exchanges data with users and exit nodes, being a kind of intermediary. The user does not interact directly with the exit node, which means that the exit nodes cannot identify the user. In this case, neither the dVPN creator nor any of the blockchain participants will have access to personal information. However, in the absence of a relay network, the exit node will have access to the user’s IP address. Community members who host either an exit node or a relay node are called node hosts.
As the project team explains, a relay network is like a phone call to a third party. Imagine that you don’t want your number to be recognized by a third party. In order to hide it, you use your friend’s phone. You call your friend first, he puts you on hold and calls a third party, and then combines two calls: you and a third party. This is how you connect with a third party without disclosing your data. In this example, a friend’s phone is a relay node for hiding data, which is your phone number.
The blockchain is used as a register for “node requests”. The dVPN user application requests all available dVPN nodes, reads data from transactions in the dedicated dVPN Sentinel Zone, filling in the list of available servers. This ensures stability and a decentralized architecture, since the connection between the user and the exit node is established without the need to connect to an intermediate server (for example, masternode for node discovery). That is, users will only interact with the chain, and not with the servers.
Token
Sentinel’s own token is called DVPN. This is a Cosmos standard token. Total supply: 17,208,590,810. The token is used not only for rewards, payment of commissions and voting within the network, but also as payment for a dVPN subscription, and payment for extended dVPN services.
Advantages
We expect that a virtual private network (VPN) will not only give us access to banned websites and content, but also protect our data, provide anonymity and secure access to the Internet. But in fact, more than half of free VPNs have some level of vulnerability, transmit or disclose customer data, or even contain malware. They definitely do not comply with the principles and standards of Web3. That’s why decentralized VPNs that are created based on Sentinel are very important. Here are the advantages of dVPN in comparison with any centralized VPN:
- cannot be disabled or blocked by the decision of some centralized authority, or by closing the server on which it works
- no intermediate servers
- high level of fault tolerance and security
- low probability of vulnerabilities
- no need for a trusted third party due to open source code
- the amount of payment depends on the amount of bandwidth you use
- the process of requesting available servers, as well as the account management system, occurs along the chain
- uptime is much higher thanks to the blockchain
dVPN can be used by individual users or legal entities. Sentinel provides tools and infrastructure for creating dVPN. To created VPN applications, developers or companies can use ready-made Sentinel tools. They themselves will engage in attracting users in order to earn income and pay the hosts of dVPN nodes. Sentinel aims to collaborate with existing centralized VPN providers, helping them move to a decentralized architecture. VPN application owners are be able to enter into service contracts and set certain quality standards with nodes in the Sentinel ecosystem.
Conclusion
In the last years, the need to secure our access to the global network has become especially urgent because of the uncontrolled desire of global companies and governments to monitor our every move. Sentinel can be used for watching Netflix as well as for limiting IP address surveillance and so on.
Sentinel’s goal is to provide secure global Internet access. Together with its own technical solutions and technologies from Cosmos, Sentinel will be able to perform the role of providing a decentralized private network in the Web3 infrastructure
Stake Service is a validator for top projects since 2020. Our portfolio includes Celo, Solana, The Graph, Avalanche, Agoric, Umee, Regen and more. Our nodes are launched in 6 countries of the world, our team maintains their work 24 hours a day 7 days a week, working for the benefit of decentralization.
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