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I was just teaching someone a little about SSH & VNC. I said I'd show him some things with TeamViewer. Then he asked me "Soo.. is this a VNC client?
And I wasn't sure.

What protocol does TeamViewer use? It's obviously similar to VNC & RDP and so on. However, I can't seem to find much information on it.

Seth
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voices
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    security.stackexchange.com duplicate: [How Team Viewer establish Remote Desktop Connection](http://security.stackexchange.com/q/14280) – DavidPostill Oct 10 '15 at 22:53

1 Answers1

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TeamViewer uses its own proprietary protocol. It is not documented, though its authentication layer has been partially analyzed:

It is similar to RDP or VNC (RFB) in purpose, but includes NAT traversal, has slightly different authentication methods (the one-time PINs), supports file transfer & chat, and adapts to network conditions dynamically.

Oskar Skog
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u1686_grawity
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    The NAT traversal must be possible because it is not peer-to-peer, as there is a server to establish connection, unlike RDP and VNC. – paradroid Oct 10 '15 at 23:12
  • It's mostly peer-to-peer. Quite a few protocols (e.g. pre-MS Skype) only use central nodes purely for NAT hole punching, not for data relaying. – u1686_grawity Aug 15 '16 at 11:58
  • Could you elaborate on the NAT traversal / hole punching part? – voices Sep 06 '18 at 16:58