Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Ask Soylent: How Best to Set Up a VPN?

posted by mrcoolbp on Monday April 14 2014, @05:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the all-your-VPN-are-belong-to-us dept.

Gaaark writes:

Hello fellow Soylentils. Colour me a nice Soylent Green Canadian who up until recently has only worried somewhat about security. I use linux (mostly Ubuntu) and in the past I have had time to work at config files and do google searches to solve my problems. Today i have far less time to do these things. My question is: can anyone (practically) hand me a good, easy, linux-friendly, and hopefully cheap VPN solution? Extra kudos to those with free options.

Canada seems to be heading in the direction of the United States and I am beginning to worry that my internet is being taken from me. Can anyone come up with a solution to keep my internetting private and my downloads from being pried into? (I've heard VPN is the way to go, but searching for solutions leaves me wondering if I'm getting scammed in the process.)

Thanks in advance for the help.

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Ask Soylent: How Best to Set Up a VPN? | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 39 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by frojack on Monday April 14 2014, @06:24PM

    by frojack (1554) on Monday April 14 2014, @06:24PM (#31451) Journal

    You first need to determine the end points of your VPN.

    Saying you've heard that they are the way do go, suggests you haven't heard enough about them to decide how to use them.

    VPNs are nothing but an encrypted link between your network and some other location from which you want to download stuff, or from which you want all your network access to appear to originate from. There are companies that provide VPN services, making your internet access appear to come from their site, which may be in any country of your choosing.

    But don't get your hopes up. VPNs are even MORE COMPROMISED than is Openssl. http://torrentfreak.com/nsa-can-spy-on-vpn-traffic -and-other-encrypted-communication-130906/ [torrentfreak.com]
    https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/7521/nsa-breaks-under mines-many-kinds-encryption-mean-vpn/ [bestvpn.com]
    http://www.flashrouters.com/blog/2014/02/19/asus-l inksys-router-firmware-hacked-stay-safe-dd-wrt-tom ato/ [flashrouters.com]

    There are packages in UBUNTU that readily implement VPNs. There are Routers with built in VPN software. But all of these are mostly useful to send ALL traffic through a different site, seldom are they useful for ad hoc connections to your porn site (or whatever). You may be using the wrong tool for the task at hand. Its hard to tell, because your request is rather vague.

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Interesting=1, Informative=2, Total=3
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   5