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VPNs on iOS are a scam

michaelhorowitz.com

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Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#161

Post by sneak »

crazygringo wrote: post #124

Can someone clarify this better than the author? Trying to read through the whole thing, I can't tell if if this is claiming: a) When a VPN is activated, pre-existing connections will continue communicating outside the VPN, but all new connections happen via the VPN b) Apple services like the app store and/or certain other apps leak outside the VPN because of a) more than you would expect c) Apple services like the a…

Apple iOS and macOS maintain OS-level connections to Apple (using hardware serial number linked certificates) for notifications.

This means the Apple APNS client IP logs relate directly to your tracking serials and both your VPN and non-VPN ids, linking them.

They also contain your non-VPN IP history, which is your travel history, as client IP is city level geolocation.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tL8_caB35Pg

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#162

Post by sneak »

tinus_hn wrote: post #30

Would be nice if someone who actually knows what he’s doing looked into this. This guy might be on to something or he might be creating a whole lot of drama about nothing.

He's on to something. For months I carried iOS devices only without sim cards and used an external VPN router with LTE.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#163

Post by [deleted] »

astrange wrote: post #160
sneak wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lockdown mode on iOS for high security will prohibit the use of provisioning profiles.

Configuration profiles, not provisioning profiles. That just means you install them before locking it down. Also, the supervision requirement for always on VPN is a stronger limitation than lockdown mode; you have to erase the phone to supervise it.

[deleted]

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#164

Post by simondotau »

raverbashing wrote: post #146
autoexec wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All they do is let you get onto the public, untrusted, internet through a different on-ramp. There is no point to them. Not true, at all. There are several good reasons to use VPNs to get a different on-ramp to the otherwise untrusted internet. - Avoid ISP tracking: Your ISP should see only traffic to and from the VPN. - Access content intended for those in other regions: Many sites and services only show certain c…

You just replaced ISP tracking with VPN tracking And your "VPN in YouTube ads" surely does that

I'm not paranoid, and I have no evidence of anything at all, but it does occur to me that if I ran the US CIA/FBI, I would totally start a company like NordVPN and give them enough money to advertise widely and get sponsor spots on popular YouTube channels.

Sure, you'll probably end up facilitating a few petabytes of copyright infringing torrent traffic every day, but you'll also have a direct connection to countless people who think they're totally anonymous.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#165

Post by simondotau »

buraktamturk wrote: post #153
raverbashing wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just replaced ISP tracking with VPN tracking And your "VPN in YouTube ads" surely does that

I rather have my VPN track me than ISP does. For example, connection to Signal and Kakaotalk servers is used as an evidence of being a member of a terror organisation (!) in Turkey. Evidence is gathered by Ministry of Communications from the ISPs, whom they have to provide real-time connection data to the State including CGNAT records. With a VPN, it is almost impossible (depending on setup, i.e. NAT) to obtain such…

I guess it depends who your adversary is. If it's the Turkish government, then you are probably safe to trust a foreign mainstream VPN. If you're trying to avoid scrutiny by a five-eyes western government, you need to be somewhat more careful.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#166

Post by simondotau »

dahfizz wrote: post #150
raverbashing wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just replaced ISP tracking with VPN tracking And your "VPN in YouTube ads" surely does that

> You just replaced ISP tracking with VPN tracking. Yeah, that's the point. People have infinitely more choices for VPN providers than for ISPs. The VPN provider could be in another country. You can even run your own VPN on hosted infra.

> You can even run your own VPN on hosted infra.

This comes with its own risks and you lose some advantages of a commercial service, such as being "lost among the crowd" of other VPN users.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#167

Post by sneak »

astrange wrote: post #160
sneak wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lockdown mode on iOS for high security will prohibit the use of provisioning profiles.

Configuration profiles, not provisioning profiles. That just means you install them before locking it down. Also, the supervision requirement for always on VPN is a stronger limitation than lockdown mode; you have to erase the phone to supervise it.

Ahh thanks for the clarification, I didn't know there was a difference.

Configuration profiles are however how you force DoH or disable certain privacy leaks from phoning home to Apple. There are no UI settings for some of the important ones.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#168

Post by OneLeggedCat »

raverbashing wrote: post #146
autoexec wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All they do is let you get onto the public, untrusted, internet through a different on-ramp. There is no point to them. Not true, at all. There are several good reasons to use VPNs to get a different on-ramp to the otherwise untrusted internet. - Avoid ISP tracking: Your ISP should see only traffic to and from the VPN. - Access content intended for those in other regions: Many sites and services only show certain c…

You just replaced ISP tracking with VPN tracking And your "VPN in YouTube ads" surely does that

> You just replaced ISP tracking with VPN tracking

Huge benefit in my opinion.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#169

Post by _0w8t »

astrange wrote: post #156
hnzix wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't a VPN also prevent traffic sniffing if you're connected via a public wi-fi point?

It would, but that’s already generally impossible thanks to everything being on HTTPS (including DNS).

HTTPS typically still have the site domain in clear due to SNI.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#170

Post by autoexec »

simondotau wrote: post #164
raverbashing wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just replaced ISP tracking with VPN tracking And your "VPN in YouTube ads" surely does that

I'm not paranoid, and I have no evidence of anything at all, but it does occur to me that if I ran the US CIA/FBI, I would totally start a company like NordVPN and give them enough money to advertise widely and get sponsor spots on popular YouTube channels. Sure, you'll probably end up facilitating a few petabytes of copyright infringing torrent traffic every day, but you'll also have a direct connection to countless…

> Sure, you'll probably end up facilitating a few petabytes of copyright infringing torrent traffic every day, but you'll also have a direct connection to countless people who think they're totally anonymous.

This is the best part really. No three letter agency is going to spoil their honeypot in order to bust some kid for downloading movies and video games. They've got bigger fish to fry. The more successful they are at keeping their users safe from the copyright goons the more popular and "trustworthy" their little honeypot will seem. Your downloads will still probably earn you another black mark in your dossier, one more thing they could use against you if you ever became a problem for them, but still, free movies, music, and games! Might as well make oppression work for you.

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