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There are isolated problems with current patches, but they are well-known and documented on this site. |
I have been seeing more ads for VPN for home users with the top 3 vendors offering very competitive pricing.
With all the stuff going on with hacks etc. now a days of computers and ISP’s themselves, would it be a good idea to subscribe to one?
Seems simple enough. Any reported issues created by installing a VPN application?
Any issues reported with VPN companies being a problem themselves?
You may want to read this article which lays out advantages, disadvantages, and limitations fairly clearly:
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/what-is-a-vpn-and-why-you-need-one
Read the entire article.
Remember that you may not need a VPN at all.
Do not use a free vpn, you are the product.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Why do you need a VPN?
Do you connect to work/home when on the road? if not you probably don’t need a VPN.
cheers, Paul
All of our internet traffic moves via VPNs.
It is encrypted between our computers and the VPN provider’s servers and its point of origin is masked depending on which of the thousands of servers we select to route out traffic through. We also have the option of routing our traffic through multiple servers.
We do not need our internet service provider or others gaining access to our traffic such as financial transactions, banking activity, medical records, confidential communications, raw data feeds, telephone conversations, etc.
We can also gain access to content that may not be available in our home country and gain better pricing when shopping by searching for items in different regional markets.
The amount and kind of information given to law enforcement by a VPN is governed by the country / state where it is located. Look at the privacy laws of Switzerland, Norway, Panama, etc.
Many VPNs have foreign locales as their headquarters, and they will often advertise this fact, claiming that the strict privacy laws of their official country of residence protect them from warrants. However, this is very much not the case.
…
This is because of something few privacy companies seem willing to admit, namely that countries talk to each other and are often more than happy to help each other out with simple requests.
“However, if a court order were issued according to laws and regulations, if it were legally binding under the jurisdiction that we operate in, and if the court were to reject our appeal, then there would be no other option but to comply. The same applies to all existing VPN companies if they operate legally. In fact, the same applies to all companies in the world,” NordVPN said.
“Some people think that VPNs can somehow operate above the law and no matter what, they will never comply with lawful requests issued by a court. It simply isn’t accurate,” the company added. “Truly legitimate and reputable companies will always operate within the law. That is important to understand.”
…
“NordVPN operates under the jurisdiction of Panama and will only comply with requests from foreign governments and law enforcement agencies if these requests are delivered according to laws and regulations.”NordVPN: Actually, We Do Comply With Law Enforcement Data Requests
Law enforcement gained access to the servers of DoubleVPN and seized personal information, logs, and statistics kept by DoubleVPN about all of its customers.
Global police shut down VPN service favored by cybercriminals
Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.2361 + Microsoft 365 + Edge
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A VPN can only turn over information to law enforcement that is stored on its servers. If a VPN does not retain a record of a customer’s activity there is nothing to turn over other than the fact that the user has an account.
That being said, it is possible that the VPN may have to retain and turnover data that is collected after a jurisdiction imitates enforcement activity.
According to Runbox,
https://runbox.com/why-runbox/privacy-protection/runbox-norway-important/
The Norwegian privacy laws are mirrored in other jurisdictions including Switzerland and Panama.
And what are we doing that we feel that we don’t want the country we live in to be able to monitor? I’m a law abiding citizen. I want the bad guys stopped. As long as there are means for bad guys to avoid monitoring traffic we end up with CALPers the largest retirement database getting popped for identity theft (see this Monday’s newsletter for more details)
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Alex
Are you saying that if we choose to route our internet traffic via a VPN’s server in Argentina that the VPN routes the traffic through servers in other countries along the way and that they store our data on each of the intermediate servers?
And if the data is encrypted how does a law enforcement agency know what to ask for in the first place?
When data is in transit it often can be intercepted. Encryption is not a panacea.
Unless you’ve checked exactly how that VPN server is working, there’s a lot of “trust in the process” that we have to do. Unless you have the VPN service hosted on your physical servers, you really have to trust the reputation of the company you are doing business with.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
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