How safe are VPN's

[Voldy21]

Exactly how well do VPN's protect you from other people seeing what you're doing? Are they all the same and the quality of the service is about the speed and the usability? Is there no difference in terms of how well they hide your traffic? If there is then how is it tested?

[babadoctor]

some are safer than others

[Aytex]

theres different types of VPN's some have faster connection but less protection

vice versa it all depends on which ones you get

[Dautin]

I would point you to this video.

 

[Mr.Tech.Qc]

Exactly how well do VPN's protect you from other people seeing what you're doing? Are they all the same and the quality of the service is about the speed and the usability? Is there no difference in terms of how well they hide your traffic? If there is then how is it tested?

Most are safe, some give info to the NSA, i know the founder of CyberGhost, its 100% anonymous

[Br3tt96]

I watched the video the other day. Are there any options for free safe vpn stuff? I'm a broke college student, and I can't afford a monthly payment as of right now.

[Voldy21]

some are safer than others

 

theres different types of VPN's some have faster connection but less protection

vice versa it all depends on which ones you get

 

Most are safe, some give info to the NSA, i know the founder of CyberGhost, its 100% anonymous

I understand that some are safer than others. How do I figure out which ones are better than others? Can you guys point me to a site that reviews vpns that is reliable and thorough in it's reviews? I'm looking for the jonny guru of VPNs.

[Ringtail Jax]

I watched the video the other day. Are there any options for free safe vpn stuff? I'm a broke college student, and I can't afford a monthly payment as of right now.

Unfortunatly, no. Most free vpn services are crap INCLUDING hotspot shield and many others. Although if you don't mind me asking what is your main intent for a vpn?

[Mr.Tech.Qc]

I understand that some are safer than others. How do I figure out which ones are better than others? Can you guys point me to a site that reviews vpns that is reliable and thorough in it's reviews? I'm looking for the jonny guru of VPNs.

Ask the marketing team for a trial to sse if the connection is good

[babadoctor]

Unfortunatly, no. Most free vpn services are crap INCLUDING hotspot shield and many others. Although if you don't mind me asking what is your main intent for a vpn?

not including tunnelbear tunnelbear is an exeption

[Voldy21]

Ask the marketing team for a trial to sse if the connection is good

You don't understand, my concern isn't the connection speed. My concern is the privacy and that's not easily tested. I'm looking for something that tests the privacy.

[Mr.Tech.Qc]

You don't understand, my concern isn't the connection speed. My concern is the privacy and that's not easily tested. I'm looking for something that tests the privacy.

There is not really a tool to do that, its kinda impossible exept if you are a hacker and knwo how to penetrate the security, then for the part if they spy on you, no one exept the peaple the made the coede know.

[Voldy21]

There is not really a tool to do that, its kinda impossible exept if you are a hacker and knwo how to penetrate the security, then for the part if they spy on you, no one exept the peaple the made the coede know.

How much knowledge do you have about this subject? Are you seriously telling me that there's no way to know the extent of the security in any way? I know at least one way which is the encryption that they use whether it's 256 or or 512 or less so I already think that you're not telling me with much knowledge about the subject.

[Lolucoca]

They're okay, but they limit your bandwith, are more vulnerable to downtime and you'll notice increased ping times.

[Mr.Tech.Qc]

How much knowledge do you have about this subject? Are you seriously telling me that there's no way to know the extent of the security in any way? I know at least one way which is the encryption that they use whether it's 256 or or 512 or less so I already think that you're not telling me with much knowledge about the subject.

I know quite a bit about vpn's, more encryption is better but generally slower, yo can always use a better browser like tor or something on top of the vpn, but if you are not going to do something crazy like a hack attack there is not reason to go crazy with more than a good vpn 

[Mr.Tech.Qc]

How much knowledge do you have about this subject? Are you seriously telling me that there's no way to know the extent of the security in any way? I know at least one way which is the encryption that they use whether it's 256 or or 512 or less so I already think that you're not telling me with much knowledge about the subject.

i think i did not say the right thing, i tried to say that there is no tool to test te secority of a vpn

[Dautin]

How much knowledge do you have about this subject? Are you seriously telling me that there's no way to know the extent of the security in any way? I know at least one way which is the encryption that they use whether it's 256 or or 512 or less so I already think that you're not telling me with much knowledge about the subject.

 

Encryption is the basis of a VPN.  It sheilds your traffic from your ISP which I assume is what you're trying to escape here (or from your college or university).  That's about all the security they can provide.  You just have to make sure that the VPN you are connecting to doesn't track you or sell your information to the NSA.  Like @Mr.Tech.Qc CyberGhost is 100% anonymous.  They have a free option that I would give a try.  

 

There is also no "tool" that you can use to test the security of your VPN.  You basically have to take their word for it.

[Br3tt96]

Unfortunatly, no. Most free vpn services are crap INCLUDING hotspot shield and many others. Although if you don't mind me asking what is your main intent for a vpn?

Nothing really. Sometimes I'm really bored so I like to try new thing tech related...

[Lildirt]

VPNs can differ massively.

 

A VPN can simply not use encryption (though most people never do this -- it eliminates a huge benefit to VPNs), where it'll mask your IP address and that's about it. Of course, you could accomplish this same feat with a standard HTTP/SOCKS proxy.

 

Anyway, a standard VPN setup can be up for debate. If the client properly ensures they are re-routing DNS requests through the VPN (no DNS leak) and they have disabled IPv6 in their application, their OS, or in their router settings (no IPv6 leak -- some services offer IPv6, which should be castrated at the start unless your VPN support IPv6, those are far and few inbetween though), then they are more likely to be okay. However, if you are going from a pure privacy standpoint, then you can also consider the potential for log retention on the VPN provider's part amongst other things (like simply sniffing packets from their networks).

 

It really depends what you're hiding from. If you're hiding from some teenage twat who thinks he's cool because he has a booter, then any old VPN will probably help you. If you're hiding from a corporation, then you might need to gather a few smarts about how to really protect yourself online. If you're looking to take on a world power, well, good luck; I've been trying to do that for years and I'm not even close to vanquishing that feat.

 

Shameless advertising: I personally use PrivateInternetAccess for my own needs. I pay about $40/year for an incredibly stable VPN that hardly touches my connection speed. I highly recommend them if you're shopping for a provider. If you're looking to DIY this, then do some research on OpenVPN and learn how VPNs really work and ration yourself a VPS from a cheap host. You'll be ready to take on a lot more then.

 

EDIT: You can test if you are leaking DNS requests or your IPv6 address by doing a search online. There are websites that offer services, though I can't promise they all work. If you get an IPv6 address back while behind a VPN, you're definitely leaking something. Run a whois on it and if it even sounds like it might be connected to you, get some research on how to kill IPv6 on your application, OS, or even entire network.

[sali27]

I believ that it all depends on the Protocol your VPN is supporting, as you may have heard that there are different protocols through which the VPN connects. PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, OPEN VPN, SSL, SSTP. SSTP is the most secure protocol  but it compromises on the speed. L2TP/IPsec and PPTP are fast but they compromise on security. OPENVPN however is better than all three as it keeps a balance between speed and security.
Your data is generally safe through a VPN, its very difficult bypassing protocols and it takes a real pro to get through them but all of this depends on the co-operation of the VPN service Provider, if you are using a VPN Service of well known company you wont have to worry about your data being hacked.

[Voldy21]

VPNs can differ massively.

 

A VPN can simply not use encryption (though most people never do this -- it eliminates a huge benefit to VPNs), where it'll mask your IP address and that's about it. Of course, you could accomplish this same feat with a standard HTTP/SOCKS proxy.

 

Anyway, a standard VPN setup can be up for debate. If the client properly ensures they are re-routing DNS requests through the VPN (no DNS leak) and they have disabled IPv6 in their application, their OS, or in their router settings (no IPv6 leak -- some services offer IPv6, which should be castrated at the start unless your VPN support IPv6, those are far and few inbetween though), then they are more likely to be okay. However, if you are going from a pure privacy standpoint, then you can also consider the potential for log retention on the VPN provider's part amongst other things (like simply sniffing packets from their networks).

 

It really depends what you're hiding from. If you're hiding from some teenage twat who thinks he's cool because he has a booter, then any old VPN will probably help you. If you're hiding from a corporation, then you might need to gather a few smarts about how to really protect yourself online. If you're looking to take on a world power, well, good luck; I've been trying to do that for years and I'm not even close to vanquishing that feat.

 

Shameless advertising: I personally use PrivateInternetAccess for my own needs. I pay about $40/year for an incredibly stable VPN that hardly touches my connection speed. I highly recommend them if you're shopping for a provider. If you're looking to DIY this, then do some research on OpenVPN and learn how VPNs really work and ration yourself a VPS from a cheap host. You'll be ready to take on a lot more then.

 

EDIT: You can test if you are leaking DNS requests or your IPv6 address by doing a search online. There are websites that offer services, though I can't promise they all work. If you get an IPv6 address back while behind a VPN, you're definitely leaking something. Run a whois on it and if it even sounds like it might be connected to you, get some research on how to kill IPv6 on your application, OS, or even entire network.

Thank you so much for the thorough explanation. I really appreciate it. You've certainly given me a lot to research so thank you so much for giving me a good place to start. So, let me give you a hypothetical. Let's say that a person is torrenting. What level of security is necessary? How do they know that they're safe? Of course, this is purely a hypothetical as I wanted to give a real world situation that would warrant a higher level of security. 

 

The VPN that I'm using is proxpn and I'm using OpenVPN. The service says that they do not keep records of the log so I think I'm safe. If it says on the terms and services that they don't do it, are they legally required to not do it? Or can they just do it anyway and provide the information to ISP's or government officials?

 

Also, as a side note so feel free to not put too much effort into this, do you think you could provide some sources or places I could go to get more information on the subject of maintaining privacy? Like something that explains the DNS stuff and all of that?

 

Again, thank you so much

[techguru]

Thank you so much for the thorough explanation. I really appreciate it. You've certainly given me a lot to research so thank you so much for giving me a good place to start. So, let me give you a hypothetical. Let's say that a person is torrenting. What level of security is necessary? How do they know that they're safe? Of course, this is purely a hypothetical as I wanted to give a real world situation that would warrant a higher level of security. 

 

The VPN that I'm using is proxpn and I'm using OpenVPN. The service says that they do not keep records of the log so I think I'm safe. If it says on the terms and services that they don't do it, are they legally required to not do it? Or can they just do it anyway and provide the information to ISP's or government officials?

 

Also, as a side note so feel free to not put too much effort into this, do you think you could provide some sources or places I could go to get more information on the subject of maintaining privacy? Like something that explains the DNS stuff and all of that?

 

Again, thank you so much

https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/

[Voldy21]

https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/

Thank you so much. This answers a lot of my questions except one. If they say that they do not collect logs on the terms of services, are they required to not collect logs or can they do it anyway?