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Pakistan bans VPNs

tribune.com.pk

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Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#11

Post by jevinskie »

kijin wrote: post #5
pavel_lishin wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article, it sounds more like Pakistan has banned all encryption than VPNs specifically - VPNs were just one example cited.

Hmm, that would mean no Gmail for anyone in Pakistan. Any service that uses SSL for logins would also become unusable if SSL was banned. I don't see any mention of a wholesale ban on encryption, only the use of encryption for privacy purposes. So, port 443 might still be open. It's still pretty easy to distinguish between HTTPS traffic and VPN traffic, though.

They could proxy the SSL connections and still let people log in while monitoring the traffic. Of course, your browser will complain if they rewrap it in SSL unless they get a cert like Iran did.

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#12

Post by 77ko »

SSL works in most ISP's in Pakistan, though anti-state and very bad for the children websites like the Rolling Stones are blocked. Nice, Pakistani friendly sites like redtube or child porn remain unblocked of course.

VPN's work too, so far. I'm on one right now. As to why - the filtration system the government is using is so brain dead - there is basically one Juniper router and a couple of Cisco routers (last time I looked) - through which the entire country's traffic is routed.

Using a VPN makes web browsing much faster, with no annoying "waiting" moments - which I presume is the routers locking up under massive load.

The day VPN's are blocked is going to be a sad day indeed. I am going to explore for alternatives to VPN's. Way back in the days of super slow dial up I used these services which would take a link and email the page or entire site to you depending on the command you sent, in a zip file.

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#13

Post by 77ko »

reginaldo wrote: post #7

The goal of the Pakistani government seems to be the complete obliteration of all private communications. But the only way to do that is by banning all communication. With the ban on VPNs, steganographic[1] techniques that make encrypted traffic look like regular traffic will become more and more common. The troubling thing is the fact that these techniques are somewhat hungry for bandwidth. [1] http://en.wikipedia.o…

Simple explanation of Steganography: http://www.economist.com/node/17248872

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#14

Post by sturadnidge »

I am not sure this is that much more disturbing than the British Government even thinking about restricting the use of social media apps during times of civil disobedience. And this is extremely disturbing.

How can any global company now do business in Pakistan? Surely there is some kind of back door in there.

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#15

Post by jasonjei »

Apple obviously uses VPN in its non-Cupertino locations, presumably too with its production lines in China. I know that China allows the use of VPN for businesses with a legitimate need. Even though Pakistan was never an ideal location for doing business anyway, they've essentially banned any technical business from conducting operations in Pakistan.

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#16

Post by mhlakhani »

They're doing this under the pre-text of monitoring all internet usage so that they can 'search traffic for terrorist communication'.

At my university, students are required to browse through an authenticated proxy (which we have to sign in to using our university IDs), which logs our browsing history. This is done so that they can comply with the PTA's requirement that an ISP should be able to provide browsing history of all users for the last 45 days upon request.

Never mind that it's trivial to get around that proxy, all it actually does is mess up most stuff like Windows updates, gaming, etc.

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#17

Post by cosgroveb »

reginaldo wrote: post #7

The goal of the Pakistani government seems to be the complete obliteration of all private communications. But the only way to do that is by banning all communication. With the ban on VPNs, steganographic[1] techniques that make encrypted traffic look like regular traffic will become more and more common. The troubling thing is the fact that these techniques are somewhat hungry for bandwidth. [1] http://en.wikipedia.o…

Stego is detectable. They will move on to scanning for and flagging those communications eventually.

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#18

Post by dasil003 »

gilgad13 wrote: post #2

To do this, wouldn't they have to effectively block SSL and SSH connections as well? SSL is used in OpenVPN and some Cisco implementations. And we all know that you can tunnel any port over ssh. Or is the plan that the punishment for stepping outside the lines be enough to keep people from experimenting with these technologies?

Yes, I think they would need to block those as well in order to be effective.

Frankly I don't see how they could possibly get away with it. Businesses of any size can't run without encrypted channels. Proceeding with this seems sure way to smother any economic development and relegate the country to third-world backwater status for the foreseeable future. And is any world leader crazy enough to do that besides Kim Jong-il?

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#19

Post by rahoulb »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #3
gilgad13 wrote: post #2

To do this, wouldn't they have to effectively block SSL and SSH connections as well? SSL is used in OpenVPN and some Cisco implementations. And we all know that you can tunnel any port over ssh. Or is the plan that the punishment for stepping outside the lines be enough to keep people from experimenting with these technologies?

From the article, it sounds more like Pakistan has banned all encryption than VPNs specifically - VPNs were just one example cited.

So no SSH and no accessing git servers. In other words goodbye to any software development industry in PK

Re: Pakistan bans VPNs

#20

Post by 77ko »

jasonjei wrote: post #15

Apple obviously uses VPN in its non-Cupertino locations, presumably too with its production lines in China. I know that China allows the use of VPN for businesses with a legitimate need. Even though Pakistan was never an ideal location for doing business anyway, they've essentially banned any technical business from conducting operations in Pakistan.

They are asking companies and banks etc. to register their VPN's with the govt.

Basically, if you're a multinational or a large local corporation you get to use VPN's. Private citizens need not apply.

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