TunnelBear Publishes Security Audit

https://www.tunnelbear.com/blog/tunnelbear_public_security_audit/

by benjyclay • 9 years ago

121 58 9 years ago

huhtenberg3• 9 years ago

Can official binaries be independently reproduced from published sources by members of the public?

If no, then an audit has little to no value as it still implies trusting the vendor not to fudge the binaries or, more broadly, be malicious.

lfam2• 9 years ago

I think your judgment is too harsh.

Very few software deployment systems make it possible for binaries to be independently reproduced from published sources by the public. AFAIK, it's limited to systems like Nix, Guix, recent Debian, and other participants in the Reproducible Builds project.

However, even within those systems, if you are downloading a compiled binary instead of building it yourself, how can you be sure that you get the "right" binary every time? Does the binary download system periodically "challenge" the binary provider by building from source and comparing with the downloaded binary? If so, does it report its findings anywhere?

It seems to me that even within a software deployment system that enables users to reproduce binaries, you still end up trusting whoever runs the deployment system, because there are no methods of challenging the reproducibility in a meaningful way. The systems I mentioned above sign the binaries, which means that you implicitly trust the holder of the signing key to send you the right binary. But it doesn't mean anything about the relationship of the binary to some source code.

Having said that, if I am using some program by downloading binaries, I am trusting whoever provides the binaries. If I trust them, then a source code audit is valuable to me, even though I can't be sure the compiled binary is related to the source code.

huhtenberg3• 9 years ago

There's NO value in 3rd party vouching for the security (read, quality) of some specific version of the software, because this opinion will be rendered null and void with the next software update.

There is some value in 3rd party verifying the system design (the architecture, the protocol, etc.) and general engineering practices in the company, but this still hinges on the need to trust this company not to be (or being coerced to be) malicious. TunnelBear hasn't established the latter, so - yes, there's little to no value in former. There is some marketing value in it though.

PS. Zimmerman's original secure VoIP project was rooted in the idea of reproducible builds. It was open source, but with a license that prohibited any use except for verifying binary builds. It was 20 (?) years ago.

burkaman• 9 years ago

Little to no value? There's a pretty big gap between trusting a vendor to not lie and trusting them to not make mistakes.

huhtenberg3• 9 years ago

It's a moot point for a security vendor to establish its competence without establishing its trustworthiness.

zimbatm2• 9 years ago

The trouble with VPN providers is that even with reproducible client builds, it's much easier for them to intercept the traffic on their side. Plus there is a near-zero chance of detection, unlike on the client side where the binary can be decompiled.

jlgaddis• 9 years ago

I work for an ISP and believe deeply in online privacy. I've had the idea of offering up an as-private-as-I-can-make-it VPN service a few times, but I always end up at the same point: wondering how I could prove that the service wasn't doing anything malicious or nefarious -- "taps", Netflow data, etc. would all be easily available to me.

What would it take to convince you that a VPN service was trustworthy?

0xffff2• 9 years ago

Am I missing something? Nothing TunnelBear produces appears to be open source, so the obvious answer to your question is no. Members of the public can't build binaries at all.

elithrar• 9 years ago

If no, then an audit has little to no value as it still implies trusting the vendor not to fudge the binaries or, more broadly, be malicious.

Given they provide a VPN service, trusting the binaries is only going to take you so far.

summarity• 9 years ago

Some time ago, decompiled the Windows client and presented my findings here: https://hackernoon.com/poking-the-bear-is-tunnelbears-client...

LogicX• 9 years ago

Nice writeup. Not sure I agree about DNS transparent proxying being rampant in ISPs (at least in the US).

eli• 9 years ago

Pretty sure T-Mobile still does it.

molestrangler• 9 years ago

I still have issues with a VPN provider who insists on using their VPN client.

bg0• 9 years ago

Are there any nice free VPN Clients out there? I haven't been very lucky in finding any in the OS X realm

cisanti• 9 years ago

Viscosity is nice on Windows. I think it costs 10 bucks, though... on Linux I don't know, I use CL.

preinheimer• 9 years ago

GetCloak has also done a 3rd party audit, and is planning their next one: https://support.getcloak.com/faq/technology/#have-you-had-an...

ehxcaet4• 9 years ago

Are there results anywhere? Can't seem to find anything on their link to https://www.securityinnovation.com/

brndnmtthws• 9 years ago

TunnelBear is a great product, one which I've been using for a few years, and I trust them with my business. I wish services like Netflix didn't blacklist their IPs, but it's easy enough to get content off alternative sites when I'm traveling outside the US.

Thanks for the good work!

sunsetMurk2• 9 years ago

What do you do when you want to watch Netflix while traveling outside of the US?

pandemicsyn• 9 years ago

I just used Cloak while in Poland a few weeks ago with HBO Go (don't think i watched in any netflix).

clamprecht• 9 years ago

Is there some way to be notified of a TunnelBear ownership change? For example, if Facebook buys them, how would we know?

iraklism• 9 years ago

Google news alerts. Alternatively you can pay someone to do it for you.

orf2• 9 years ago

Report PDF: https://cure53.de/summary-report_tunnelbear.pdf

The test looks good, down from 3 criticals and 3 high to just 1 high. I'd be interested if they could expand on the 4 medium findings found. It's not the full report.

codefined2• 9 years ago

It appears to be down from 3 criticals and 3 high, not 1 high?

orf2• 9 years ago

Fixed, thanks :)

ericzawo• 9 years ago

Tunnelbear is a dead-simple VPN (like, "so easy Mom can do it" simple) and their branding is killer. Who doesn't love cuddly privacy bears?

aphextron• 9 years ago

Never trust a 3rd party VPN for anything sensitive ever, period. Words of assurance and "security audits" are completely meaningless. HTTPS interception and forwarding is a trivial thing to do. For the public who are unable to setup their own VPN, they will have to accept that everything they do is being monitored by a random internet company rather than their ISP now.

There can be some use for these services if you are very careful with everything you do while connected. But the risk of transmitting usernames, emails, passwords, and CC numbers accidentally while still connected is too great IMO.

ehxcaet4• 9 years ago

I'd rather give my internet traffic to a company that doesn't sell my info versus my ISP, which almost certainly would sell my info.

drdaeman• 9 years ago

A VPN provider is no different than ISP.

Seriously. Both get paid and provide Internet connectivity. Both have incentives to do something to your traffic, would it have no negative consequences (financial, legal or just moral) for them.

The only non-technical difference is that VPNs have a lot of competition (so free market actually works) and in some countries/areas telcos have near-monopolistic positions.

That doesn't mean that VPNs are universal friends of your privacy and ISPs are its foes. Just that there is some disbalance.

pnutjam3• 9 years ago

If you aren't using their software, you will notice HTTPS intercepts. If your installing their client, they could slip a certificate into your chain, but someone would eventually notice.

I stick to openvpn providers and use my own software.

cJ0th• 9 years ago

OFFTOPIC: Does anyone know whether TunnelBear will be available for Linux (or at least Firefox) one day?

melanus• 9 years ago

https://www.tunnelbear.com/blog/linux_support/

Their Linux support is limited (ie no client), but it is there. You just need to do the configurations (somewhat) manually. Works pretty well when I used it a few months ago on my Mint box.

5706906c06c• 9 years ago

Great, what happens to the release iterations between now and when the next test is going to be conducted? Show me the build logs, what changes, etc.

sigjuice• 9 years ago

The claims of transparency would be a bit more meaningful if they simply published their source code. It is hard to imagine anything too precious to disclose in the code.

Instead what we have is a pdf (4 pages long) with the title "TunnelBear Security Assessment Summary 07.2017" and an equally long web page claiming how awesome and transparent this is.

tolgahanuzun• 9 years ago

Ironic, I cant even enter the tunnelbear website in my country. (Turkey) :/

TunnelBear Publishes Security Audit

Related Stories