Lawdog Dago Dom Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 I know a guy that always claims to have the latest and greatest of whatever we are discussing (harmless, but sometimes annoying). He asked what kind of VPN sevice I was using. I said I didn't have one (not really sure what it was). I then got the "you need to come out of the stone age" lecture. Blah, blah, blah. So I looked up VPN and have an idea how they work. Do any of you SASS folks use one? Glad you have it? Is this a luxury or a necessity these days? Thanks. LDD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 I mostly use it when I am overseas and want to pretend I am in USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stone Devers Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 I use a VPN for work to get in my servers. Personal use? No, I'm not doing anything clandestine that I want to hide and I'm not paranoid about the government so no need to setup one. The question to your friend is what is he doing that he feels the need to hide behind a VPN? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 Nope and don't want one. Used one before and all of a sudden my workplace thought I was 7/24 and started making demands on me that were quite aggravating. Unless you need one for business I feel they are a waste of time and money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawdog Dago Dom Posted January 12, 2021 Author Share Posted January 12, 2021 5 minutes ago, Stone Devers said: I use a VPN for work to get in my servers. Personal use? No, I'm not doing anything clandestine that I want to hide and I'm not paranoid about the government so no need to setup one. The question to your friend is what is he doing that he feels the need to hide behind a VPN? Probably nothing. He's just a gadget freak and always wants the best or latest gizmos on the market. And loves to talk about it. If you hacked my emails you could use them as a sleep aid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 A virtual private network obfuscates your IP address making it (somewhat) more difficult to trace you. It is favored by the paranoid as well as those who download pirate movies and porno movies. It seems many of the porno producers make more more money from lawsuits, than from the movies they make. They get them out on the net, then sue the downloaders for copyright violation. There is a NYC group of lawyers that specialize in these suits... with a handsome commission to them. Governments can subpoena the VPN provider to divulge the addresses of their clients. Only those VPN providers in countries outside the US, that have no reciprocity with the US, are beyond reach of the the government. How it works: Your computer has an established connection to your VPN provider. You make a web request through the VPN for a pirate movie or kiddie porn web site. The VPN is a proxy on your behalf. The VPN makes the request to the website, then forwards each packet back to your computer. This incurs a slowdown due to the multiple handling of every data packet. If the web site is raided by the gov't, their connection records only show the IP address of the VPN. If your machine is raided, it only shows the same. Stupid users like Hunter Biden or Oliver North, either leave data on their computers, or erroneously believe they "erased" it. It is FAR more difficult to truly erase a file, than just "delete". You have to overwrite the entire file with varying data patterns before you delete it. This is called a "secure erase" and what we had to on military sites before returning broken disk drives back to IBM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Rich Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 Startpage is a search engine that uses a VPN. kR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeaconKC Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 VPNs are also favorites of those dealing in child porn trading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawdog Dago Dom Posted January 12, 2021 Author Share Posted January 12, 2021 So what I'm getting from this is that a lot of child trafficking/porn could be shut down, the powers that be just won't do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 No, a VPN is a legitimate secure connection. It (can) be used for illicit purposes. Shutting down VPNs makes no more sense than shutting down all automobiles because some are used for drug trafficking. Or banning all sober drivers, to protect those who drive drunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 28 minutes ago, bgavin said: No, a VPN is a legitimate secure connection. It (can) be used for illicit purposes. Shutting down VPNs makes no more sense than shutting down all automobiles because some are used for drug trafficking. Or banning all sober drivers, to protect those who drive drunk. Or confiscating guns because criminals use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCandless Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 I have a bit of software on my PC that tells me who is accessing my computer through the internet. Most of the time it is Haliburton Company and Amazon Techologies. Just in the last 10 minutes there's been Amateur Radio Digital Communications, Xerox Corporation, E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co. Inc., Texas National Research Laboratories Commission, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MERIT Computer Network, and multiple others... These are probably companies that host websites or make the Internet work in the first place. Everytime you log on to a web site there are cookies that your computer or phone downloads, to make "surfing" easier, or decide what ads to show you... and "stuff" I don't even know about, as my tech savvy is minimal. There's a lot of folks who don't like being laid bare like that, and use software to block trackers, ads, cookies, hide their location, the DNS, and their web "footprints", (to whatever extent that is possible). There are those that use the TOR browser and go to great lengths to minimize the risk of being tracked. Of course, only staying off-line will eliminate that. And the plethora of alphabet agencies will still know much about your life. Since I've spent my life in occupations and pursuits that have required fingerprinting and filling out forms to send to various agencies, they know all about me anyway. Oh well, too late now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 Nobody is accessing your computer from the outside. Any open ports (connections) you have to Halliburton, Amazon, Dupont, et al, are initiated INSIDE your computer. The FUD (fear-uncertainty-doubt) of being attacked from the outside is marketing baloney from Norton, and all the others trying to sell their products to you. The vast amount of malware introduced into your computer is user-initiated. Yes, if you surf to "HotDancingGirlsRUs.com" you are likely to pick up a bug. Same as trolling for skanks in dirty bars. The other great source of bugs is clicking links in Email. Clicking a link called "Have a Larger Penis in 3 days" is an absolute certainty for picking up malware infections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramblin Gambler Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 I use proton VPN. Like MMH I started using it while I was traveling overseas so I could pretend to be in the states and order ammo and gun parts. Since then I've found a few places in my travels where the connection is faster when I turn on the VPN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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