What is a VPN?

VPN

Virtual Private Network

Why do we need a VPN?

• Traditionally used for businesses
  • Employees "VPN in" to get access to email etc.
• Great way to be secure when traveling
  • Both for business and personal reasons
• Secure browsing on open networks (Starbucks etc.)
  • People can very easily snoop on what you're doing
  • Any open connection exposes you immediately
• FCC's internet privacy rule being repealed

FCC Privacy Rule Repealed

• Your ISP more or less knows what you're up to
  • Internet Service Provider
  • Your internet traffic goes over their wires
• Previously this was all private - no one else could see it
• With this repeal your ISP can now sell this information
• A company, or a private person, could buy your full history
• This is a huge invasion of privacy
  • Imagine someone buying the history of what you did today (woke up, ate breakfast, watched TV, went to work, etc.)

Browsing the web (no VPN)

Browsing the web (with VPN)

Your ISP (no VPN)

Your ISP (with VPN)

Traffic w/o VPN

VPN = Privacy

• All that your ISP sees is that your traffic is going somewhere
  • Somewhere is wherever your VPN server is
• They could figure out what type of traffic it is, but that's it
  • Netflix, Hulu, etc., has a pattern vs. just browsing sites
• No one keeps track of what you do
  • As long as your VPN does not do logging
• Other evil-doers ("hackers") cannot "sniff" your traffic
  • You have a secure tunnel that they cannot access
• You could even mask yourself as being from a different country
  • VPN services often offer servers to connect to world-wide

How to pick a VPN

• There are a ton of factors that go in to picking a VPN
  • Level of security, privacy, logging, speed
• Different criteria call for different VPN services
  • e.g. privacy and no logging is more important than speed
• Your location and the VPN service's location could be big
  • Would the service give your information to the government?
  • Picking a service
• Free is generally bad - always go for a paid service
• Search around the web to try to find reviews
  • Reddit is pretty good for this (/r/vpn)

List of VPNs

This is not the end-all be-all. Just a quick list. Do some research if you can!

• Private Internet Access
• NordVPN
• AirVPN
• AzireVPN
• IVPN
• For a comprehensive list and breakdown:
  • https://thatoneprivacysite.net/simple-vpn-comparison-chart/

Using a VPN

Extra Credit

• HTTPS Everywhere
  • Browser plugin to force HTTPS on sites
  • HTTPS means the site is more secure and less snooping
• Tor browser
  • Browser based on privacy
  • When combined with a VPN you are very hard to trace

FIN