Nomad, communicate off-grid mesh, forward secrecy and extreme privacy

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Reticulum & NomadNet Capabilities

  • Built on the Reticulum network stack, which can run over many media (LoRa, BLE, packet radio, Tor/I2P, HF, etc.) as long as bandwidth > ~5 bits/s and MTU ~500 bytes.
  • Demonstrated over HF radio with ~90-mile separation, bridging an HF node to a TCP-based testnet so off-grid nodes can reach wider peers.
  • Ecosystem includes desktop (NomadNet), mobile (Sideband), browser client (MeshChat), and microcontroller firmware.

Routing, Announces, and Flooding

  • Reticulum uses “announces” that are flooded only for routing information. Nodes store next-hop info; data packets then follow a single path using hop-count.
  • To mitigate flooding, only a small fraction (~2%) of channel bandwidth is used for announces, with priority for lower-hop ones, which biases routes toward faster paths in practice.
  • Skeptics question resilience against Sybil-style attacks (e.g., generating vast numbers of fake addresses/announces). Mitigations mentioned: announce caps and rate-limiting per interface, but comprehensive source-flood protection and a formal threat model are described as unclear.

Blockchains, Sybil Resistance, and Alternatives

  • Explicitly no blockchain is used. Some argue that mesh + blockchain are ill-matched (consistency vs partition tolerance).
  • Long side-thread debates whether blockchains or other consensus schemes are necessary or useful for Sybil resistance; views range from “all blockchain is useless” to “various non-blockchain distributed approaches can work.”

Transports, Radio, and Legality

  • Reticulum can be used over ham bands, but US rules generally prohibit encryption on amateur radio; ISM bands (e.g., LoRa, WiFi) avoid this issue.
  • Discussion of HF legality, CB restrictions (voice-only, no digital), and FCC’s slow reconsideration of “no encryption” rules.
  • Concern over potential loss of 900 MHz ISM spectrum to commercial interests.

Hardware, Performance, and Sneakernet

  • Python implementation seen as heavy for very old hardware, but there is a C++ microReticulum for ESP32 and RNode firmware for LoRa boards.
  • Supports very low bandwidth and even “sneakernet” via printed QR messages that can be scanned and injected into the mesh.

Security, Auditing, and Usability

  • Software is beta and not externally audited; some see that as acceptable for non-commercial projects, others worry about privacy-breaking bugs.
  • No clearly documented, formal threat model yet; interested readers are pointed to the manual and community forums.
  • Usability critiques: long hex identities are hard to handle; suggestions include decimal/base32 and better grouping. Users must understand what “trust” levels mean.
  • Concerns that true privacy also requires trusted input devices and minimal, auditable software stacks, not typical mobile OS keyboards.