Recently I came across something really interesting – Mixnet. I saw it in a post about NymVPN (https://nymvpn.com/en), which uses Mixnet as one of their routing options.
I am familiar with the idea of hopping between servers to conceal your IP address, but what is Mixnet? I was curious to learn more. I explored it more, and realised that it is a very interesting concept.
Most VPNs in the market let you connect to one of their servers to mask your origin IP address. Some of the more advanced VPNs take it a step further by hopping through 2-3 servers so that it is harder to trace your origin IP address or to identify you.
Mixnet takes anonymising even further. It splits your data into encrypted packets that go through a decentralised network of mixer nodes. Noise is introduced by mixing up your data with other traffic, making it an impossible herculean task of deciphering any useful information from other identifiers.
It is a fascinating concept, and I have learned something new!
You can read more about Mixnet on their official website (https://nymtech.net/about/mixnet) and read about mix Network on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mix_network).