Sandvine

Sandvine Incorporated is a networking equipment company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Sandvine network policy control products are designed to implement broad network policies, including Internet censorship,[1] congestion management, and security.[2] Sandvine targets its products at consumer Tier 1 and Tier 2 networks including cable, DSL, and mobile.[3]

Sandvine Incorporated
TypePrivate
IndustryNetworking Hardware and Software
FoundedWaterloo, Ontario (2001)
HeadquartersWaterloo, Canada
Websitewww.sandvine.com

Company history

Sandvine was formed in August 2001 in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, by a team of approximately 30 people from a recently closed Cisco acquisition, PixStream. An initial round of VC funding launched the company with $20 million (Cdn). A subsequent round of financing of $19 million (Cdn) was completed in May 2005. In March 2006 Sandvine completed an initial public offering on the London AIM exchange under the ticker 'SAND'. In October 2006 Sandvine completed an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker 'SVC'.

Initial product sales focused at congestion management as operators struggled with the high growth of broadband. Many operators have shifted focus to revenue generating services and reducing operational expenditure. In June 2007 Sandvine acquired CableMatrix Technologies for its PacketCable Multimedia (PCMM)-based PCRF that enable broadband operators to increase subscriber satisfaction while delivering media-rich IP applications and services such as SIP telephony, video streaming, on-line gaming, and videoconferencing.[4]

In July 2017 Sandvine shareholders accepted a $562 million (Cdn) takeover bid from PNI Acquireco Corp., an affiliate of Francisco Partners and Procera Networks. The acquisition was completed on September 2017 when Sandvine shares ceased to be listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange.[5] The acquisition was completed despite concerns raised by Ronald Deibert, the director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto who argued that the takeover required “closer scrutiny” by the federal government, largely in light of some of the activities done by two of Francisco’s portfolio companies.[6] Most notably Procera Networks was part of a controversy where its technology is alleged to have been used to spy on Turkish citizens.[7]

The P2P throttling[8] focuses on Gnutella, and uses a path cost algorithm to reduce speeds while still delivering the same content. Sandvine uses stateful deep packet inspection and packet spoofing to allow the networking device to determine the details of the P2P conversation, including the hash requested. The device can then determine the optimal peer to use, and substitute it for the one selected by the P2P algorithm by "[sitting] in the middle, imitating both ends of the connection, and sending reset packets to both client and server."[9] In March 2018 the Citizen lab published a report showing strong evidence that PacketLogic devices from Sandvine could have been used to deploy government spyware in Turkey and redirect Egyptian users to affiliate ads.[10]

Internet throttling and censorship

Sandvine products were used by Comcast in the United States to limit number of sessions of Internet traffic generated by peer-to-peer file sharing software.[11] Sandvine's current traffic discrimination product, Fairshare, is described in detail in an RFC.[12] According to independent testing, Comcast injected reset packets into peer-to-peer connections, which effectively caused a certain limited number of outbound connections to immediately terminate.[13]

According to research by Citizen Lab, products sold by Sandvine are being used to facilitate censorship of the Internet in Egypt, an allegation the company denies.[1]

Support for internet shutdowns during Belarus protests

During the 2020–21 Belarusian protests, Belarusian officials shut down internet access with technology made by Sandvine and with their help.[14] Peter Micek, general counsel at the human rights group Access Now, called on federal authorities to investigate Sandvine and the private equity firm Francisco Partners and questioned the effectiveness of Sandvine’s business ethics committee. “Their services appear to have been used in Belarus to silence people and to cover up egregious human rights violations”, Micek said.[15] According to media reports, there was unease among Sandvine employees about the role of their company in the repression of political protests in Belarus since August 2020. In a conference call with employees on September 10, 2020, Sandvine's management, however, seems to have been unapologetic about their role in Belarus: "Alexander Haväng, Sandvine’s chief technology officer, ... said that Sandvine had concluded that the internet, and access to specific material on websites, wasn’t 'a part of human rights'. 'We don’t want to play world police', he said. 'We believe that each sovereign country should be allowed to set their own policy on what is allowed and what is not allowed in that country.'"[16][17]

On September 15, 2020, Sandvine cancelled its deal with Belarus, citing that the government "used its product to violate human rights".[18] However, its hardware was left at two locations near Minsk, which allows the government to control approximately 40% of internet traffic in the country.[19]

References
  1. Malsin, Jared (July 18, 2018). "Throughout Middle East, the Web Is Being Walled Off". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on July 19, 2018. According to Citizen Lab, an internet research group at the University of Toronto, Egypt is blocking websites with the help of devices whose digital fingerprint matches those of products sold by Sandvine, a firm based in Fremont, Calif., and Waterloo, Ontario [...] A former Sandvine engineer said the company rolled out a platform for network insights in Egypt in 2016.
  2. Adelphia Selects Sandvine to Protect Subscribers from Worms and Spam. - Free Online Library
  3. Sandvine Management's Discussion and Analysis
  4. Sandvine buys CableMatrix for peanuts; Founder Laurence Rubin is upbeat: This is an opportunity Haaretz, 21.06.07
  5. Critchley, Barry. "Four years and interest from four private equity firms later, Sandvine is set to be sold". Retrieved 2017-09-28.
  6. "Will a "closer scrutiny" stop the sale of Sandvine Corp. from getting over the line". Financial Post. 2017-07-17. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  7. Fox-Brewster, Thomas. "Is An American Company's Technology Helping Turkey Spy On Its Citizens?". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  8. (WO/2003/094465) PATH OPTIMIZER FOR PEER TO PEER NETWORKS
  9. Comcast traffic blocking: even more apps, groupware clients affected
  10. "BAD TRAFFIC: Sandvine's PacketLogic Devices Used to Deploy Government Spyware in Turkey and Redirect Egyptian Users to Affiliate Ads?". The Citizen Lab. 2018-03-09. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  11. Comcast's compliance report to FCC on its previous network management techniques
  12. Comcast's Protocol-Agnostic Congestion Management System
  13. eff.org article on Comcast jamming Gnutella and Lotus
  14. "Belarusian Officials Shut Down Internet With Technology Made by U.S. Firm". Bloomberg.com. 2020-08-28. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  15. Ryan Gallagher (2020-09-11). "U.S. Company Faces Backlash After Belarus Uses Its Tech to Block Internet". Bloomberg.com.
  16. "U.S. Company Faces Backlash After Belarus Uses Its Tech to Block Internet". Bloomberg.com. 2020-09-11. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  17. "Accès à Internet : la Biélorussie a ordonné la coupure du réseau mobile durant les dernières manifestations". lemonde.fr (in French). 2020-09-14. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  18. Ryan Gallagher (2020-09-15). "Francisco-Backed Sandvine Nixes Belarus Deal". Bloomberg.com.
  19. BBC World Service’s Newsday program (September 16, 2020).
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