I was trying out the new feature to choose an entry server randomly, however when i used it (for the entry server) it choose the server “Aether-gw-hu-02” while my exit node was “Aether-gw-is-01”, in other words it made me use two hops from the same operator thus arguably defeating the whole point of using nym VPN.
What makes this an issue is that it is no different from using a centralized VPN, and arguably worse since the individual operators are less known than say Mullvad, also consider that there are a few operators that control a good portion of all servers (Aether, Oceanus Staking, Pettroff Staking, Hermes Stakepool, etc.) so the chances of randomly picking two servers from the same operator is not that low.
Is there something I’m missing? Because right now using this feature seem like terrible opsec, it should make sure you’re not putting your trust on only one operator and find two servers from different people.
NymVPN disallows a user to select the same server for entry and exit, but yes indeed, there is the additional problem that two different servers might be run by the same operator - and thereby undermine the benefits of decentralization. This is why Nym is rolling out the concept of ‘node families’, so that the route selection algorithm can detect if several nodes are run by the same operator and make sure to exclude those routes. (The concept is somewhat similar to Tor’s relay FamilyID’s: Tor Project | Learn how to configure your relays' FamilyID).
Current status: Nym Node Family scheme has been conceptualised and is now being scoped for technical implementation. The scheme will be presented and explained in an Operator Town Hall soon, so if you want to know more, and especially if you are also an operator, do keep an eye out!
In the meantime, we urge users to select nodes from different operators where obvious. Do feel free to ask more questions!
I feel this info should be made more obvious, at least for the random selection mode since with it it’s impossible to “select nodes” and make sure they are from different operators, I at least didn’t know the implications from this and would have appreciated an indication that this was even a possibility when enabling random mode.