FindNot.com

Our Review
...already convinced? Sign Up To FindNot NOW!

FindNot is an Anonymous Internet Service. It enables you to use the same Internet provider you currently have and at the same time you remain anonymous in all your Internet activities.

FindNot is a proxy-based anonymity provider which means you connect to one of their proxy servers in order to anonymize your Internet connection. At the time of this writing, they provide 34 servers in 7 countries including the US, the UK, Canada, The Netherlands, Denmark, Malaysia, and Germany. As a subscriber you have access to all 34 servers.

One thing that we love about FindNot is it's "No Proprietary Software" Rule. ALL of the connections use free and open source software. If you want, you can compile all of the necessary connection softwares from source. We didn't find this necessary at all. The PPTP VPN uses Window's own connection wizard (or a shortcut .pbk file from FindNot - just open it with notepad and check it out), OpenVPN is of course open source, the SSH tunnel software "Putty" has source available and the Socks 5 connection does not require any software.

One aspect that sets FindNot apart is that you have 4 connection options, so you can connect from just about any environment. All of the connections replace your IP with FindNot's IP and further, encrypt the data between your computer and their server (so not even your ISP can spy on you) except the Socks5 proxy, which only provides IP address replacement. We tried all four, here is what we found out:

• PPTP VPN: I was a little surprised to see this on their list of connection options. While it is secure, (many corporate VPN connections still use it) it is prone to disconnections which will reveal your IP address if the connection is reestablished. FindNot doesn't hide this vulnerability. I wrote to support and the answer was "We are well aware of the issues with the PPTP VPN. We keep it available because many users prefer it and for some it is the only connection option in their environment. If this poses a privacy or security risk for you, choose another connection option.".
  
  I tried the PPTP VPN using servers from different countries. The speeds were acceptable and sure enough, my IP address was hidden when checked at www.getip.com and www.Internetfrog.com as suggested by FindNot. The only annoyance was when I was connected to server 5, located in Malaysia. It was very slow and I had to reconnect several times while surfing.
  
  
• OpenVPN: This was my favorite connection of all. Both PPTP and OpenVPN options are easy to set up and are secure because of the fact that you do not have to configure any applications on your computer, unlike the SSH tunnel or Socks5 proxy options. You just connect and start surfing or emailing. OpenVPN gets the highest marks because not only are you completely protected while connected, you are also safe if the connection is lost. OpenVPN stops all traffic! The ONLY drawback I found is that it is a little more difficult to set up. But if you follow the directions on FindNot's setup page, you shouldn't have any problems at all.
  
  I chose the suggested OpenVPN Windows GUI setup option. Within a few minutes I was surfing anonymously using FireFox (my Favorite!), Oprea9 and IE7. Speeds were just fine for browsing, and the GUI sat unobtrusively in the system tray which made it easy to disconnect and reconnect with a right-click to different servers.
  
  
• SSH Tunnel over Port 80 - This is my 2nd favorite connection. It is very fast and allows you to use your default IP address at the same time! I downloaded the setup files from FindNot, which included putty.exe and several windows command batch (.bat) files. There's no mystery to these at all. The .bat files are simply 'command line shortcuts' that conveniently send setup instructions to putty.exe via the command line. If you are worried about what commands are being sent, just open one of the .bat files in notepad!
  
  I used several servers and configured both Firefox and IE7 easily. FindNot's support is correct, FireFox is much easier! Once set up, I ran one of the .bat files, connected and was browsing in no time at all. Speeds were much faster than the PPTP VPN option, and comparable to the OpenVPN.
  
  An additional benefit was that while surfing anonymously on one browser, I could surf on the other using our default Internet connection! This definitely will come in handy.
  
  If the connection is lost, the browser is unable to access the Internet. I tested this by trying to visit different sites and then disconnecting the SSH tunnel. As expected, once the tunnel was closed, no traffic could get through my browser.
  
  The only issue I ran in to was a DNS leak vulnerability reported here: http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2006-April/045320.html. I sent an email to support, and once again they had a workaround. Will at support said:
  
  "The SSH system is designed for the DNS lookups to be handled by our server, not your ISP. There is an issue with the SSH software that could cause a DNS request to be leaked to your ISP. This information would only contain the site requested, nothing more. However, this does raise a privacy issue for some. There are two options to fix this.."
  
  Will gave me options to fix the issue, and I could find no other security or privacy risks associated with the SSH tunnel.
  
  
• Socks5 Direct Proxy Connection: This is a plain-vanilla, standard proxy connection. As long as your application supports Socks5 proxies, you can connect and use it easily. The biggest difference between this and other connection options is that this connection is not encrypted. For those of us more worried about Internet hackers and privacy invading, cookie spreading websites than our ISP logs, this connection works for our security just fine. While I preferred other connection options, this one certainly has it's advantages. It is a little faster since you do not have the encryption involved, but the privacy loss at the ISP can be an issue, so take that into consideration.

Other reasons we like FindNot:

FindNot has several reasons to choose them, I have already covered some:

• No proprietary software
• Always available:
  • 34 servers in 7 countries
  • 4 connection options on all servers
• Connection Encryption

In addition, they also:

• Do not keep log files (read their log policy here)
• Allow p2p
• Do Not Censor
• Have multiple anonymous payment options by 3rd party processors

With all that you get for the price, it is hard to beat FindNot.com.

Heard enough? Sign Up for FindNot!