Hi everyone! This question has been in my head for a while now: VPNs are everywhere, their ads are everywhere, but does everyone really need them? I mean, I’m not even sure what would I be hiding, and it just looks like something I would be paying for every month virtually forever, but never see the actual usefulness of it.
Basically, is using a VPN more similar to having a door lock in your apartment (everyone has it, and if you don’t, don’t get mad when you’re robbed) or to having an alarm security system on your car (a good car thief will steal your car anyway, but it might just fend off some of them because they wouldn’t want to deal with it), or is it more like wearing a charm (can create a false sense of security, but doesn’t actually save you from real danger)?
The only time I’ve used a VPN is to acces ls go-restricted stuff & to hide traffic from packet sniffers (ie: wireless carrier throttles video, use a VPN & video is at full speed again).
I had to set my parents up on an AT&T cell phone plan for their internet since they live in the boonies. Video was getting throttled & so were there desktop & laptop computers.
I changed the ttl at the router level & a VPN at the router has stabilized the connection for everything.
99.999% of people who pay for a vpn service (like the ones you see ads for) do it to not get dmca notices when pirating. If you don’t torrent or share copyright data, you don’t really need it.
As far as getting a vpn for security, I wouldn’t trust any of those cheap services with sensitive data. There is no regulation in the industry and they can do anything they want regardless of their marketing claims.
If you want security when using public networks, it’s better to roll your own vpn server on your home router(free) or vps or use your work vpn(if you’re not doing anything questionable).
It’s somewhere between the car alarm and the charm.
Someone that wants to compromise your data specifically and has the resources to do so is going to do it and the VPN won’t help you.
It will ward off opportunists that are in your area, but may not ward off opportunists that go after users of your VPN.
In the above respects it’s like a car alarm.
Some people get these to hide their traffic from “the man,” but in reality they are just giving the VPN provider all their data instead of their ISP. “The man,” will just get the records from the VPN provider instead. So people trying for this are getting a charm.
On your secure home-network? No, not really. Only if you need to access stuff inaccessible to your current location, or if you need to hide your illegal traffic from your ISP.
Out travelling? Absolutely. The VPN will tunnel you out of the insecure WiFi’s you use at coffee shops or airports.
However, using the VPN you route all your traffic through a VPN-providers servers. Meaning you should be very conscious about who you trust with different kinds of traffic.
It has some uses. If you want to access blocked websites or if want to access websites that might get you in trouble in your region (like a torrenting site). But as for security? You’re better off using a good firewall+antivirus combo. And if want to access some really unsecure stuff on the web, use a VM.
I’ve been using Torguard VPN service for years to download Linux ISO’s and other things. Works great. They always have a Black Friday special discount.
The box you’ve made (lock/alarm/charm) is not accurate. A VPN is not intended to protect objects. It’s intended to add a layer of privacy to a digital communication medium, the internet, which also happens to circumvent a few barricades that may exist. I cannot think of a good analogy for it. It’s simple enough that I don’t think it needs one.
Privacy: It’s like passing a note in class rather than writing the message on the board in front of everyone. (tunneling)
Security: It’s like having a trusted friend pass that note. (encrypted)
Financially: It’s paying a couple of dollars a month for a service that mitigates exploitation from companies that would charge you more based on your behavior, from targeting you with ads that distract you from your real needs, and from ISPs that are seeking to automate selling your history of communication. That last one has far more information than you may realize, including what hardware you have, when you are home, who connects to your network and when, and loads more.
Do you need to fly with someone other than Spirit airlines? No… but it sure would be nice.
I have VPN question… my work has WiFi. We don’t have to log on other than a password which is the same for all of us. I noticed they block a few websites, one of them is because it firearm related. Would having a VPN allow me to get on blocked websites?
These are all great reasons to use VPN, but I think:
a hacker on your connection can not monitor your data going back and forth between your pc and the server
is unlikely for most people. This is a targeted attack and with HTTPS being the standard, your communication is already encrypted between your browser and the server (but some information, like what website you’re visiting may not be encrypted without VPN or DNS over HTTPS/TLS).
And I totally agree with the last 3 points, but this is in r/HomeNetworking. Save for accessing region-restricted content, VPN isn’t helping helping you on your home network.
a hacker on your connection can not monitor your data going back and forth between your pc and the server
This sentence doesn’t make sense. Sniffing traffic on the open internet is not trivial. “A hacker on your connection” really doesn’t make sense. A hacker that really wants to know your browsing habits might be better served by compromising your device in the first place and doing shenanigans from there. VPN has nothing to do with protecting in this case.
sites who trace your IP can not link your IP to the area / address where you live
Yes, but choose your vpn provider carefully. VPN does not equal automatic anonymity, and your identity is only as protected as your provider’s willingness to protect logs.
using free wifi services is more secure with a VPN
you can access sites that are blocked in your country
Absolutely
a lot of places (restaurants / hotels / hospitals) may block you from using certain services in their firewall. Setting up a VPN will bypass this.
Keep in mind that many places that block traffic based on services may also block users’ abilities to establish VPN tunnels too. Workplace, k12 schools, hospitals, etc.
What a load of FUD! VPN providers like PIA and Nord have been shown not to keep logs (and even if some do have logs, it does not mean that they would hand them over to repressive countries that don’t have jurisdiction over them, e.g china) .
Well I am from Europe and I can’t access numerous news websites in the US since the GDPR is in effect. Using a VPN solves that. I connect to the internet in the US and can connect to those sites.