Reverse Engineering

I was a Private Internet Access (PIA) customer for many, many years. Some recent changes spurred me to look for a new VPN provider and I ended up landing on ProtonVPN which I’ve been using for a few months now. And I noticed something… TCP (SYN, ACK) messages aren’t “real” when using ProtonVPN. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing or a good thing or even a thing that most people notice because it’s generally not problematic. But it is a non-standard VPN thing that I noticed, so I wanted to write about it from the practical perspective of a user, how it works at a high level, and why something like this is being done.

Symbian OS, Android, Radio Frequencies, BTSNOOZ, BTSNOOP, and getting kicked in the teeth. Below follows a chronicling of deciding to explore Bluetooth by hacking the firmware for a Fitbit Smartwatch and realizing I was in way over my head and slowly trying to regain any hope of understanding.