TunnelX

Founded in 2013 by Eric Liftin and Steve Schneider, TunnelX developed a communication platform designed to provide secure and private online conversations. Liftin, an architect and web developer, alongside Schneider, a technologist with extensive experience in large-scale web applications, launched the service in July 2014. The company positioned itself as a solution for individuals seeking a discreet space for one-to-one discussions, away from the public nature of mainstream social networks and the vulnerabilities of traditional email and chat platforms.

The core of the business was a web-based platform, with mobile apps for iOS and Android, that created discrete, encrypted "tunnels" for two-party conversations. Communication could happen in real-time or asynchronously, similar to an instant messenger or email. The platform's primary value proposition was its security architecture. Messages were stored in an encrypted format and could only be decrypted when one of the correspondents was online. To enhance privacy, TunnelX did not require users to provide names or email addresses, ensuring user anonymity even to the company itself. A distinct feature was its image-based sign-in method, using a digital photo as the key to a conversation tunnel instead of a conventional password, a measure designed to make credentials significantly harder for intruders to obtain.

TunnelX employed a multi-layered encryption approach, using technologies such as AES, TwoFish, and Serpent, and only permitted SSL/TLS-encrypted connections with perfect forward secrecy (PFS). The system was structured so that only users held the keys to their conversations, meaning the company could not access or decrypt the messages stored on its databases. The service was launched as a free platform, aiming to provide a secure communication alternative shielded from marketers, governments, or other external parties. Despite its initial launch and a seed funding round in April 2014, the company eventually went out of business, with its status updated in September 2021.

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