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Why You Should Start Using a VPN

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Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#61

Post by DanBC »

jcr wrote: post #59
DanBC wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another common speed/cost improvement for ISP's is serving degraded images from their cache -- by recompressing images (jpg) at a higher compression ratio, the file size is reduced at the expense of degrading the image quality. This is extremely common on mobile networks, but it is becoming more common with land-based providers. In most cases, you'll never notice, since you'll just assume it's a crappy image from t…

Dan, are you being cautious and making up those IP addresses, or those actual IP addresses? I ask since 1.0.0.0/8 is APNIC and 1.2.3.0/24 is the APNIC "Debogon" project. For notes, a "bogon" is an supposedly unroutable address, or more accurately, an address that you shouldn't see in use.

I'm not making them up! It's what I see on the Chrome "status bar" (or whatever it's called now) and in the html.

1.2.3.8, 1.2.3.13, etc. I'm in a coffee shop at the moment, but when I get back I'll try and get a list of the IPs that are used. (The last digit is always quite small though.)

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#62

Post by corford »

furyg3 wrote: post #24

I posted this on another thread ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3913985 ), but I think it's relevant here... I feel pretty double about VPN as a solution for masking my online activities. My reasons for using a VPN break down into these (related) categories: 1. Security. I don't trust this network at all, such as unsecured wifi in coffeeshop. 2. Access. This network has draconian restrictions I need to get arou…

Valid point but there's nothing stopping you setting up your own VPN (either on a small VM from someone like Linode or, if you're paranoid enough, a cheap 1U server bought off ebay and placed in a colo facility).

For the single point of failure issue (which is also valid)... just setup two or more VPNs :) And, in an emergency, you can always fall back to the underlying connection.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#63

Post by corford »

michaelt wrote: post #6

It's all very well saying a VPN services keep your communications secure, encrypted and away from the prying eyes of your ISP - but why would you trust a VPN provider more than an ISP? These consumer-oriented VPN services marketing to bittorrent users seem kind of sketchy to me.

Don't trust them. Just rent a cheap VM instance and setup your own VPN.

OpenVPN is all you need and then you're good to go.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#64

Post by moe »

muyuu wrote: post #43
rotation1 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my big problem with wanting to use a VPN. The VPN account is directly tied to you by your payment details. Also most VPN services that claim to "not keep any logs whatsoever" are just a 3 page website with not much information. Maybe that's safer since they are low profile, or maybe it isn't? I honestly have no idea and I wish I did. It feels like your just trusting some random person to not mess with you.

Simple, pay with bitcoin. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade#Connectivity

Sounds like you have never tried.

Buying bitcoins anonymously is very difficult due to money laundering laws. Spending them anonymously is not "simple" either.

Your best bet would be to mine them yourself and then pay over a public wifi with a throw-away laptop.

But really, cash in an envelope is less error-prone. Just don't leave your DNA-sample on it.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#65

Post by BryanB55 »

I may be wrong but it was my understanding that a VPN will slow down your internet connection. Is this not true anymore? For those that use a VPN do you keep it connected on your own secured wifi connection the entire day while working with no added lag?

I remember using hotspotshield and torproject.org in the past but they always made things so slow it wasn't worth using. Maybe those were just the free/cheap services.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#66

Post by MattRogish »

I always use a VPN when on an un-trusted network, even if it's secured (someone could always be listening on the wired portion of the network).

Personally, I find "Cloak" (https://www.getcloak.com/) to be a fantastic app that works on my Mac and iOS devices. It's super-simple to get setup and running, and very cheap, too.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#67

Post by klearvue »

peterwwillis wrote: post #60
klearvue wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 to this, it's like 'ssh -D' on steroids, very easy to set up and just an 'apt-get install sshuttle' away. Also allows easy DNS request forwarding. Of course, OpenSSH itself provides VPN capability too without the need for sshuttle but it's harder to set up.

I notice both you and drtse4 like the tool but only mention what it's advertised to do, and not anything specific about your experience using it over 'ssh -D'. How has using it changed how you would have used 'ssh -D' ? I suppose the most practical purpose for sshuttle is for shell accounts on a box you don't own, if you need to do random transport-level stuff to remote hosts through an intermediary and you want to u…

It's a matter of convenience for me, substituting both (partially) OpenVPN and 'ssh -D'. I use 7 browsers (incl. 4 Firefox profiles) and a number of terminal tools that I often want to be seen coming from a specific server IP address from my /24 block - saves time configuring all of them individually to use SOCKS proxy or setting up OpenVPN on individual servers.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#68

Post by dkokelley »

drtse4 wrote: post #33
StavrosK wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand, what does this do that ssh -D doesn't?

"Theory of Operation It's like a VPN, since it can forward every port on an entire network, not just ports you specify. Conveniently, it lets you use the "real" IP addresses of each host rather than faking port numbers on localhost. On the other hand, the way it works is more like ssh port forwarding than a VPN. Normally, a VPN forwards your data one packet at a time, and doesn't care about individual connections; ie…

Don't most modern VPNs use UDP as the VPN wrapper? That way it's the application's job to ensure connections are made and packets sent properly.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#69

Post by snowwrestler »

corford wrote: post #62
furyg3 wrote: post #24

I posted this on another thread ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3913985 ), but I think it's relevant here... I feel pretty double about VPN as a solution for masking my online activities. My reasons for using a VPN break down into these (related) categories: 1. Security. I don't trust this network at all, such as unsecured wifi in coffeeshop. 2. Access. This network has draconian restrictions I need to get arou…

Valid point but there's nothing stopping you setting up your own VPN (either on a small VM from someone like Linode or, if you're paranoid enough, a cheap 1U server bought off ebay and placed in a colo facility). For the single point of failure issue (which is also valid)... just setup two or more VPNs :) And, in an emergency, you can always fall back to the underlying connection.

Setting up your own VPN does not solve the traceability problem, unless you happen to find a colo facility that does business in face-to-face cash transactions only.

If you use Linode to set up a VPN, Linode knows your personal and Linode IP, knows when you access their network, and knows your name and billing info. If compelling by warrant they will turn that over to law enforcement.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#70

Post by jcr »

DanBC wrote: post #61
jcr wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dan, are you being cautious and making up those IP addresses, or those actual IP addresses? I ask since 1.0.0.0/8 is APNIC and 1.2.3.0/24 is the APNIC "Debogon" project. For notes, a "bogon" is an supposedly unroutable address, or more accurately, an address that you shouldn't see in use.

I'm not making them up! It's what I see on the Chrome "status bar" (or whatever it's called now) and in the html. 1.2.3.8, 1.2.3.13, etc. I'm in a coffee shop at the moment, but when I get back I'll try and get a list of the IPs that are used. (The last digit is always quite small though.)

I wasn't entirely clear in my description of a "bogon" since the definition is a bit hazy. Some define it as unallocated address, and others define it as an address you shouldn't see in use. For example, if you get a packet supposedly from 192.168.1.1 (in private address space) on your public interface (i.e. has a public IP address), then some consider it a bogon.

Address space that hasn't been allocated by any of the RIR's (Regional Internet Registries like APNIC, RIPE, ...) are sometimes used without permission, and usually for nefarious purposes. These are also considered bogons since you should never see those addresses in use.

When you see a bogon, something is definitely wrong. It could be your service provider is misusing address space that hasn't been allocated to it, or it could be something far worse (malware, compromised network routers, ...).

The "Debogon Projects" and "Bogon Monitoring" are run by the various RIR's to find those who are squatting on misued address space, and also to get firewall sysadmins to no longer block the unused ranges. Usually, following the allocation lists of the RIR's is sufficient, but some folks don't update their firewall rules as often as they should.

http://www.ris.ripe.net/debogon/

http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-351

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