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Author Topic: How safe is VPN?  (Read 4046 times)

Offline idexp

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How safe is VPN?
« on: October 23, 2018, 08:08:10 PM »
First of all, I would like to apologize for my terrible English, I'm from Brazil.

For those who doesn't know, here in Brazil we are close to our elections for president, and the top runner, called Bolsonaro, promised to "eliminate" the oposition. Crimes are already happening and there are already people dissapearing. And we are really scared.

I would like to ask how safe VPN is. With a free VPN, is there ANY WAY to the military/government can read emails, private mesages or find my location with a VPN in my computer? Is there VPN for smartphones too?

I'm really sorry, I know that all this questions could be really stupid, but I just find out about VPN, and I'm really scared about how things are going here.

Offline JamesD

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Re: How safe is VPN?
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2018, 10:18:02 AM »
If you use a VPN that is known to have good privacy features (unfortunately you will have to use a paid VPN!) then it's fine.

> With a free VPN, is there ANY WAY to the military/government can read emails, private mesages or find my location with a VPN in my computer?

Yes, with a free VPN there will always exist this risk.

What would make you think that the particular free VPN wasn't specifically set up by the government to spy on people?

If I would be the government then I would definitely covertly run a free VPN in order to spy on people. :-)

You should use a premium paid VPN that is owned by an independent private company that is NOT located in the country you reside.

With a free VPN you may as well just give all your data over to Bolsonaro...

Offline Tim65

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Re: How safe is VPN?
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2018, 02:22:58 AM »
It depends on the VPN Service,The better and secure there encryption and server are the better there security is.

Offline jacobsladder

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Re: How safe is VPN?
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2018, 06:33:05 AM »
First of all, I'm sorry about your elections, I have heard about this unfortunate turn of events and wish you safety.

About VPNs: it depends on the provider, so few things you should know. First of all, google if a VPN that you are considering using stores no-logs. Most of VPN providers claim they do, so you will need to do your research, there were incidents when "no-logs" VPN gave out browsing information to governmental agencies or other third party agencies. NO FREE VPNs, that is the golden rule IMHO, every developer has to acquire funds somewhere, so do Free VPNs, as the saying goes, if it's free - you're the product.

When choosing a VPN be sure to check the location where they are based at. Avoid 14-eye countries (list here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement#9_Eyes,_14_Eyes,_and_other_"third_parties"), these are the ones that can send their agents to knock on VPN providers doors and ask for information. For example, I'm using a new VPN called Surfshark, they are located in The British Virgin Islands with no data retention laws, meaning they are not obliged to store and keep any information and nobody can come knocking on their door asking for some.

Third, take some additional steps: use privacy badger, use software that would hide your user agent (that's your browsers details), when on VPN - before doing anything check your IP address online if there are no IP or DNS leaks. Use strong different passwords, use encrypted e-mail, use encrypted chat platforms. Even though a VPN encrypts your traffic and hides your IP, all of these are necessary if you're living under conditions of oppression. If my English language was a bit too hard I apologize and feel free to ask any questions, I will be glad to answer all of them.