Cloudflare introduced its own VPN service based on application 1.1.1.1 for mobile devices
Yesterday, completely seriously and without any jokes, Cloudflare announced its new product - a VPN service based on a DNS-application 1.1.1.1 for mobile devices using its own encryption technology Warp. The main feature of Cloudflare is simplicity - the target audience of the new service is conditional “mothers” and “friends” who are not able to buy and configure a classic VPN on their own or do not agree to install third-party applications voracious in terms of power consumption from unknown teams.
Recall exactly one year and one day ago - April 1, 2018 - the company launched its public DNS 1.1.1.1, whose audience over the past period grew by 700%. Now 1.1.1.1 is struggling for public attention with Google’s already classic DNS at 8.8.8.8. Later, on November 11, 2018, CloudFlare launched a mobile application 1.1.1.1 for iOS and Android, and now, on its base, a “VPN by button” is launched.
Frankly, Cloudflare is a bit crafty, calling its application update 1.1.1.1 a full-fledged VPN, because in its pure form it is not. Rather, we are talking about encrypting traffic using Warp, which, like a VPN, hides what happens inside our conditional “tunneling” to the VPN server, that is, to DNS 1.1.1.1 from Cloudflare.
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The main marketing and applied rationale for the importance of the existence of a new product is that providers and other structures involved in the transmission of user data, these same data are actively collecting and even selling them. At the same time, HTTPS does not save us: it is enough to know about the fact of accessing any page in order to create a “portrait” of the user and then show him the appropriate advertising.
What you need to know about the update application 1.1.1.1 and Warp in particular:
The team claims that the distinctive feature of Warp is that it was developed, including to improve the mobile connection. CloudFlare reminds that the TCP protocol is poorly adapted to work in the conditions of mobile networks, within which any microwave can conditionally cause the loss of packets inside. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the same Wi-Fi sweep in residential areas or public places is performed randomly, which entails some monstrous noise level on all frequency channels (of course, the most affected channels now are at 2.4GHz , but at 5GHz the situation begins to deteriorate). In such conditions, the constant loss of packets is not the fault of the user, but because of external conditions, TCP connections are not called the best option. The record states that the work of Warp is built around the use of UDP packets, which, as we remember, do not require a return response from the target server and which, for this reason, are actively used by the same game developer to reduce ping. Also, CloudFlare assures that their application will clearly control the use of the battery through a moderate access to the antennas, and not to “fire” the machine to the state of a hot frying pan in an attempt to force the device to catch the network in places where the connection is not too stable. Separately, it is worth recalling that Warp works on the already mentioned VPN protocol WireGuard . The full technical documentation on WireGuard can be found here .
In addition, the Warp was not developed specifically for the mobile application 1.1.1.1, but is part of the CloudFlare technical solution for protecting servers against attacks called Argo Tunnel , which uses part of the Cloudflare Mobile SDK solutions, which in turn is based on the 2017-bought Neumob project . That is, in fact, Cloudflare began systematic work on entering the mobile market in 2017 - a year before the launch of the public DNS 1.1.1.1. Such an integrated approach instills some confidence in the sequence of actions of Cloudflare and the availability of an understandable long-term strategy, which is good news.
Cloudflare assures that he is not going to trade in the data of his users, but will monetize Warp by subscription. Out of the box, users will be available to two versions of the program: Basic and Pro. The basic version will be free, but with a reduced data transfer rate, which, apparently, will be enough only for lazy surfing the network or correspondence. A pro version for some kind of monthly fee promises a full channel to Cloudflare servers and maximum comfort.
Representatives of the company in advance say that different regions will set a different subscription price to level the differences in income in different parts of the world. It is quite possible that the CIS-region together with Russia will receive a more or less acceptable offer at the level of $ 3-10 per month instead of quite standard 15-30 euros for the EU or the USA.
The company honestly admits that they are far from Google, but they are trying, so that access to the new features of the application 1.1.1.1 will be issued in batches, on a live queue. In order to register in this very queue, you need to download the application for iOS or Android and declare your desire to use "VPN from Cloudflare".
If you look at the reviews in the market, they are mostly positive, although the application has problems with non-switchable notifications, which some users are seriously annoying. However, many note that the solution from Cloudflare is an excellent option for the safe use of public Wi-Fi access points: the latter usually do not have high speed, and so the free version 1.1.1.1 should be enough for the eyes.
Another important nuance of the last presentation of Cloudflare is that the company soon promises to bring its “DNS-VPN” to the desktop, thereby covering this quite numerous segment.
If the development of Cloudflare turns out to be as good as it is described in the company's official blog, then the market will finally receive a conditionally free (remember speed limits) and understandable application for people who are not too in the subject of how VPN works and what information security is all about. Now everything is in the hands of Cloudflare marketers - if they can enter the mass market and introduce the idea that the inclusion of the VPN mode in Appendix 1.1.1.1 is an essential element of Internet hygiene, then for millions of users the global network can become much more friendly and hospitable place than before. Also, this product will be important for countries where government authorities block access to certain resources.
And this is not only about Russia, but, for example, about Iran or even France. By the way, the Court of the Fifth Republic decided to block access to the pirated scientific portals of SciHub LibGen , they say, scientists have nothing to read for free. But this is another story, but the situation with free access to resources is getting worse and worse around the world.
Anyway, a service like 1.1.1.1 is quite suitable for young people and the older generation, who are not ready or able to figure out how to buy, configure and use VPN even on desktops, not to mention mobile devices.
Recall exactly one year and one day ago - April 1, 2018 - the company launched its public DNS 1.1.1.1, whose audience over the past period grew by 700%. Now 1.1.1.1 is struggling for public attention with Google’s already classic DNS at 8.8.8.8. Later, on November 11, 2018, CloudFlare launched a mobile application 1.1.1.1 for iOS and Android, and now, on its base, a “VPN by button” is launched.
Frankly, Cloudflare is a bit crafty, calling its application update 1.1.1.1 a full-fledged VPN, because in its pure form it is not. Rather, we are talking about encrypting traffic using Warp, which, like a VPN, hides what happens inside our conditional “tunneling” to the VPN server, that is, to DNS 1.1.1.1 from Cloudflare.
')
The main marketing and applied rationale for the importance of the existence of a new product is that providers and other structures involved in the transmission of user data, these same data are actively collecting and even selling them. At the same time, HTTPS does not save us: it is enough to know about the fact of accessing any page in order to create a “portrait” of the user and then show him the appropriate advertising.
What you need to know about the update application 1.1.1.1 and Warp in particular:
- End-to-end encryption to Cloudflare servers and the absence of any authentication certificates. That is, CF themselves refuse to watch your traffic.
- Powered by WireGuard VPN protocol.
- Default encryption of all unencrypted traffic when working through applications or when browsing unsafe HTTP pages, for example.
- Theoretical optimization of traffic on the side of Cloudflare while surfing and so on.
The team claims that the distinctive feature of Warp is that it was developed, including to improve the mobile connection. CloudFlare reminds that the TCP protocol is poorly adapted to work in the conditions of mobile networks, within which any microwave can conditionally cause the loss of packets inside. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the same Wi-Fi sweep in residential areas or public places is performed randomly, which entails some monstrous noise level on all frequency channels (of course, the most affected channels now are at 2.4GHz , but at 5GHz the situation begins to deteriorate). In such conditions, the constant loss of packets is not the fault of the user, but because of external conditions, TCP connections are not called the best option. The record states that the work of Warp is built around the use of UDP packets, which, as we remember, do not require a return response from the target server and which, for this reason, are actively used by the same game developer to reduce ping. Also, CloudFlare assures that their application will clearly control the use of the battery through a moderate access to the antennas, and not to “fire” the machine to the state of a hot frying pan in an attempt to force the device to catch the network in places where the connection is not too stable. Separately, it is worth recalling that Warp works on the already mentioned VPN protocol WireGuard . The full technical documentation on WireGuard can be found here .
In addition, the Warp was not developed specifically for the mobile application 1.1.1.1, but is part of the CloudFlare technical solution for protecting servers against attacks called Argo Tunnel , which uses part of the Cloudflare Mobile SDK solutions, which in turn is based on the 2017-bought Neumob project . That is, in fact, Cloudflare began systematic work on entering the mobile market in 2017 - a year before the launch of the public DNS 1.1.1.1. Such an integrated approach instills some confidence in the sequence of actions of Cloudflare and the availability of an understandable long-term strategy, which is good news.
Cloudflare assures that he is not going to trade in the data of his users, but will monetize Warp by subscription. Out of the box, users will be available to two versions of the program: Basic and Pro. The basic version will be free, but with a reduced data transfer rate, which, apparently, will be enough only for lazy surfing the network or correspondence. A pro version for some kind of monthly fee promises a full channel to Cloudflare servers and maximum comfort.
Representatives of the company in advance say that different regions will set a different subscription price to level the differences in income in different parts of the world. It is quite possible that the CIS-region together with Russia will receive a more or less acceptable offer at the level of $ 3-10 per month instead of quite standard 15-30 euros for the EU or the USA.
The company honestly admits that they are far from Google, but they are trying, so that access to the new features of the application 1.1.1.1 will be issued in batches, on a live queue. In order to register in this very queue, you need to download the application for iOS or Android and declare your desire to use "VPN from Cloudflare".
If you look at the reviews in the market, they are mostly positive, although the application has problems with non-switchable notifications, which some users are seriously annoying. However, many note that the solution from Cloudflare is an excellent option for the safe use of public Wi-Fi access points: the latter usually do not have high speed, and so the free version 1.1.1.1 should be enough for the eyes.
Another important nuance of the last presentation of Cloudflare is that the company soon promises to bring its “DNS-VPN” to the desktop, thereby covering this quite numerous segment.
If the development of Cloudflare turns out to be as good as it is described in the company's official blog, then the market will finally receive a conditionally free (remember speed limits) and understandable application for people who are not too in the subject of how VPN works and what information security is all about. Now everything is in the hands of Cloudflare marketers - if they can enter the mass market and introduce the idea that the inclusion of the VPN mode in Appendix 1.1.1.1 is an essential element of Internet hygiene, then for millions of users the global network can become much more friendly and hospitable place than before. Also, this product will be important for countries where government authorities block access to certain resources.
And this is not only about Russia, but, for example, about Iran or even France. By the way, the Court of the Fifth Republic decided to block access to the pirated scientific portals of SciHub LibGen , they say, scientists have nothing to read for free. But this is another story, but the situation with free access to resources is getting worse and worse around the world.
Anyway, a service like 1.1.1.1 is quite suitable for young people and the older generation, who are not ready or able to figure out how to buy, configure and use VPN even on desktops, not to mention mobile devices.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/446418/
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