[VPN] Does anyone use VPNs?

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SephirothCat

Veteran X
I am curious if anyone here uses VPN for whatever reason, such as downloading shit securely or what have you.

anything you recommend? Do they really work?
 
I use it. It is convenient for travel and security. I use StrongVPN, but there are many services available.
 
I use it for work. Unfortunately I can't tell you a damn thing about it because it was installed by my IT guy.

I just press connect and it allows me to work from wherever I am.
 
There are many available, but it's not always clear what they support. You'll want unmetered bandwidth and remote port forwarding in order to bittorrent.
 
Viggy said:
There are many available, but it's not always clear what they support. You'll want unmetered bandwidth and remote port forwarding in order to bittorrent.
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so if you have a vpn then ISP's have no idea what kind of internet traffic you have.

So say i download a file online, not only the file data they can't see, but also who is receiving it? does that depend on what kind of security system/protocol they use?
 
Jim Beam said:
I use it. It is convenient for travel and security. I use StrongVPN, but there are many services available.
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i did see strong vpn online wasn't sure if it was good or not though. just by browsing online it seems this is a kind of sketchy service industry lol
 
SephirothCat said:
so if you have a vpn then ISP's have no idea what kind of internet traffic you have.

So say i download a file online, not only the file data they can't see, but also who is receiving it? does that depend on what kind of security system/protocol they use?
Click to expand...
Your ISP can basically see that there are encrypted packets going between you and the IP of the VPN endpoint, but nothing about the content of those packets. They also can't see anything about what hosts or peers you are connecting to after the VPN hop. As far as your provider is concerned your traffic terminates there.

Of course this is simplified for dealing with the implied context of the question, i.e. leeching porn without getting sued.
 
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SephirothCat said:
i did see strong vpn online wasn't sure if it was good or not though. just by browsing online it seems this is a kind of sketchy service industry lol
Click to expand...

There may be better VPN services. I'm happy with strongvpn. Not too expensive, and reliable connections.
 
It is a bit of a sketchy industry. An unscrupulous VPN operator can log all of your shit and establish a chain of activity. And the inherent encryption ends at the VPN endpoint - unless your traffic is encrypted on additional layers, like SSL (commonly https:// sites), it is clear as day to the VPN operator and anyone listening between it and the ultimate destination.

Naturally every VPN service promises that they purge traffic logs immediately if not sooner, but you're pretty much taking that on faith.
 
Work uses Cisco VPN. I use Bitvise to tunnel to home. Both work. I can log into work, check e-mail, bring up telnet windows.
From work, I can log into my home computer, remote like I'm sitting there, and bring up an SFTP window to transfer files. I do this from my parents and daughter's computer 300 miles away. I give everyone step by step directions here, but I don't think anyone has tried it besides me. That's ok, I can talk to my home computer from anywhere.
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=466675&highlight=tunnelier&page=2
Scroll down page 2 to the wall of text and pictures that still work today.

What do I do with it? I transfer files all the time. Just visited my daughter 300 miles away. Sent all her pictures and music home, now I'm sending them to my FTP as a back up. Went to my parents, same thing, sent important files home. There was a song I was looking for. What did I do? Remote into the home computer, went on Waffles, and opened a few torrents. Once they were done, I transferred the music to my parents and listed to it.
 
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I doubt many of the commercial VPN operators are using ASAs or other Cisco vpn concentrators - their CAL pricing is obscene beyond measure. You'll be connecting likely via Windows built-in PPTP or an OpenVPN-based client app. But any of the providers can be expected to offer sufficient user documentation - they're not going to get very far if their customers can't figure out how to use it after they pay for it.
 
Incidentally, the common usage of VPNs is for secure access to a remote LAN's resources, typically that of a business of govt, across the public internet. Hiding from the Copyright Police is a relatively new market.
 
jesus christ, so much disinformation around.


VPN != encryption

Most VPN solutions use some form of encryption, but it's not a necessary component. Technically, a VPN simply lets you add extra headers into your IP packets to superimpose another logical network over the top of your existing one ('virtual'), and prevent communication between the two ('private').

Even if it is encrypted, it won't necessarily defeat an ISPs bittorrent detection/management systems

The ones around these days are far more advanced than that.
 
VPN pretty much guarantees absolute safety while you commit theft at the expense of your fellow humans.

Feel completely safe using it!
 
Viggy said:
Your ISP can basically see that there are encrypted packets going between you and the IP of the VPN endpoint, but nothing about the content of those packets. They also can't see anything about what hosts or peers you are connecting to after the VPN hop. As far as your provider is concerned your traffic terminates there.

Of course this is simplified for dealing with the implied context of the question, i.e. leeching porn without getting sued.
Click to expand...

you really think that your ISP can't mitm your traffic without you knowing it? :)
 
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