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VPNs on iOS are a scam

michaelhorowitz.com

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Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#211

Post by simondotau »

s_ting765 wrote: post #199
simondotau wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

What if you provision a new IP address every other week/month? i.e Assuming the provider allows it and the cost is negligible

If your hosting provider makes similar privacy guarantees to a similar VPN provider, then perhaps. For bonus points, use a hosted VM and commercial VPN in serial.

Again though, if the US Government is a potential adversary, there's still risk here. Intelligence services could have a 0-day on your linux distro, or an operative within the hosting company. If they get access, they can turn your hosted VM against you.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#214

Post by j16sdiz »

woojoo666 wrote: post #130
lilsoso wrote: post #62

It's also worth pointing out that tethered/hotspot data shared to the iPhone with a VPN enabled at the iPhone level will not travel through the VPN, but will rather leak your phone's IP: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/266871/is-there-a-...

this happens with android too. Which sucks. Although it is possible with root, which shows the benefit of having full control over your device

Just like iOS, you can do the same with managed device.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#215

Post by zekica »

woojoo666 wrote: post #130
lilsoso wrote: post #62

It's also worth pointing out that tethered/hotspot data shared to the iPhone with a VPN enabled at the iPhone level will not travel through the VPN, but will rather leak your phone's IP: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/266871/is-there-a-...

this happens with android too. Which sucks. Although it is possible with root, which shows the benefit of having full control over your device

Android has an option to allow tethered devices to use the VPN, and it works fine on my phone.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#216

Post by Aaargh20318 »

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…

> For example, connection to Signal and Kakaotalk servers is used as an evidence of being a member of a terror organisation (!) in Turkey.

And you are sure your connection to a VPN service won't get you flagged ?

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#217

Post by Aaargh20318 »

mschuster91 wrote: post #180
Aaargh20318 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> VPNs were always meant to carry internal traffic to a private network, not the public internet This. And the idea that these so called ‘VPN’ services somehow improve your security and privacy on the internet is laughable. All they do is let you get onto the public, untrusted, internet through a different on-ramp. There is no point to them. The internet is just as untrustworthy through a VPN service as it is through…

> This. And the idea that these so called ‘VPN’ services somehow improve your security and privacy on the internet is laughable. Actually, they do: Neither your ISP nor the government (assuming the VPN provider is in a "hostile" jurisdiction) can intercept, analyze or modify your Internet traffic when you are using a VPN to mask your Internet access. There have been multiple instances of this in the past [1][2] and o…

> Neither your ISP nor the government (assuming the VPN provider is in a "hostile" jurisdiction) can intercept, analyze or modify your Internet traffic when you are using a VPN to mask your Internet access.

This is exactly the problem with VPNs, they give you a false sense of security. When your traffic goes over the public internet, you should assume everyone and their grandmother can track it. So the traffic cannot be intercepted at your ISP, that only leaves a billion other places where it can be intercepted.

> The downside of course is that you are now forced to trust the VPN provider instead of the ISP

No. The point is neither should be trusted.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#218

Post by Aaargh20318 »

wyager wrote: post #89
Aaargh20318 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> VPNs were always meant to carry internal traffic to a private network, not the public internet This. And the idea that these so called ‘VPN’ services somehow improve your security and privacy on the internet is laughable. All they do is let you get onto the public, untrusted, internet through a different on-ramp. There is no point to them. The internet is just as untrustworthy through a VPN service as it is through…

> And the idea that these so called ‘VPN’ services somehow improve your security and privacy on the internet is laughable I trust Mullvad more than I trust Optimum.

But the point is you shouldn't trust either of them.

Re: VPNs on iOS are a scam

#220

Post by neilalexander »

mschuster91 wrote: post #207
neilalexander wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Actually, they do: Neither your ISP nor the government (assuming the VPN provider is in a "hostile" jurisdiction) can intercept, analyze or modify your Internet traffic No, you're just delegating those capabilities to some completely unregulated random actors instead. > which means any sort of shady bullshit would be a virtual death sentence This assumes that their shady bullshit is discovered by someone. I would b…

> No, you're just delegating those capabilities to some completely unregulated random actors instead. It's a question of trust in the end. Telco providers not just in the US but across the Western world have shown time and time again that they cannot be trusted: traffic manipulation, DNS hijacking, selling data to the highest bidder [1], engaging in open corruption to prevent competition, predatory sales tactics, fee…

> Telco providers not just in the US but across the Western world have shown time and time again that they cannot be trusted

This is true, although there's still a very large risk element here. The average person is not likely to be able to safely determine which VPN providers are trustworthy or not. They also aren't likely to understand their limitations, i.e. they don't grant you perfect anonymity, they don't grant you perfect immunity, they may or may not capture the traffic that you intended or thought.

In that case, is it really a good thing for VPN internet provider usage to be on the rise? All we're seemingly doing is handing people more guns to potentially shoot themselves in the foot with.

ISPs, for all of their transgressions, tend to be registered and regulated companies and that makes it much easier to at least find someone to target with legal action if needs be. The bar might be low but there are some standards to which they have to adhere to. Many VPN providers are nameless and faceless "organisations" with little-to-no regulation or responsibility. It's difficult to know if they take your privacy seriously, whether they are taking adequate precautions not to log, to not leak data or to adequately secure their systems.

Hell, it's entirely possible that your VPN provider is actually just an FBI honeypot on the lookout for people who are only actually using a VPN service because they have something to hide. How would you tell if they were?

I just don't really buy the argument that having different incentives means they are any less likely to be nefarious or negligent.

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