VPN: I need one!
Privacy is overrated.
I have been saying that for a while now.
But there are some things that deserve to be private. My mail in general is not secret. If you want to read it you can come over and I will give you an hour behind my computer. Read whatever you want.
But I do want to keep my passwords to myself. If you don’t mind.
And because I work at public hotspots a lot I know that anyone (with some knowledge of Wi-Fi) could catch all my usernames and password out of thin air.
What I need is a VPN connection.
I think.
I actually don’t know what a VPN connection is or how it works. But that hasn’t stopped me from recommending other people to get one.
‘Worried about your data?
Just get a VPN!’
So maybe I should get one myself?
Who can help me install one?
What software do I need?
Do I need a hosting company to provide me with a VPN server?
Is there a public VPN server somewhere that I can use?
Do I need VPN Tracker?
How the hell does this work?
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Edwin said,
June 26, 2007 @ 10:04 am (10:04)
If you use secure connections (SIMAP/HTTPS/etc) then your passwords are encrypted and protected. A VPN is a way to encrypt all your communication between the VPN server and your client. I use a OpenVPN solution (http://www.openvpn.net) but I use my own server.
June 26, 2007 @ 10:14 am (10:14)
Ever tried Hamachi ? it’s pretty great
June 26, 2007 @ 11:19 am (11:19)
I second on Hamachi (https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/), it’s a no nonsense, non techie solution for VPN connections.
June 26, 2007 @ 11:27 am (11:27)
I second on Edwin,
If you use HTTPS for your webmail, you’re safe and you don’t have to worry about a VPN. Do you use webmail or a Mail.app?
June 26, 2007 @ 11:41 am (11:41)
Thank you for all the feedback! I use Mail.app and simple POP accounts so no https. the software solutions look fine but then I would still need a terminating VPN server, right? How do I get one of those?
June 26, 2007 @ 11:42 am (11:42)
For VPN with Hamachi, you simply install the software on your laptop and on your server then you’ll be able to access to your server as if you were in your office
June 26, 2007 @ 11:48 am (11:48)
You can check with your e-mail provider if they support POP or IMAP via SSL, then you’re safe. But maybe Hamachi is easier? I always try to use the standard solution, so i don’t have to install any software.. :-)
Bram said,
June 26, 2007 @ 12:23 pm (12:23)
It’s creepy how easy it is to sniff data from an open Wifi connection.
Hamachi works well for me (to create a LAN even while someone is in another country.. to play games) but i’ve also read stuff about open SSH which is essentially the same thing, I guess.
I don’t know whether or not Hamachi will run on MacOSX. I only use it on my WinXP bootcamp.
Roy said,
June 26, 2007 @ 1:17 pm (13:17)
If you have an old pc laying around (or a WRAP EOL from pcengines.ch; hardware reminds me of your multiple connections WiFi solution) you can use the FREE software from m0n0wall (m0n0.ch). I use M0n0wall to connect 12 remote sites through a IPsec VPN and it works perfectly. You can manage it through a webinterface if you wish and it offers a traffic shaper also.
If you want to connect to the network at the office you’ve got the option to use PPTP or IPsec…but I would certainly use IPsec, because of security reasons; IPsec client should be on your mac (out of the box?).
Sander van der Vliet said,
June 26, 2007 @ 6:19 pm (18:19)
VPN would route all your traffic trough your home/office network, over a secure connection. This does mean that the connection speed becomes slower, because the network-path is longer, and setting up a VPN can be a hard job depending on your internet connection and computerskills. However, I do not know Hamachi, also for Mac? You can also buy a little box like this:
http://www.centralpoint.nl/p/N.....ewall.html
And VPN client software for Mac:
http://www.equinux.com/us/prod.....index.html
If you have a good webhost you can ask if they support one of the following techniques:
- pop3/imap over ssl (all incoming mail will be encrypted)
- pop3/imap with md5 challenge/response (only your password will be encrypted)
For secure outgoing mail:
- smtp over ssl/tsl
July 1, 2007 @ 6:02 pm (18:02)
hi boris, très simplement: check of je router op kantoor/thuis vpn functionaliteit heeft. Zoja, laat iemand ‘t ff instellen, zo niet, get one (een draytek ofzo). Vervolgens laat je op je laptopje de ingebouwde client instellen (in windows krijg je er een ‘inbel verbinding’ bij.
Voortaan, als je ergens op een publieke lijn zit, bel je met je verbinding in op je router, en vervolgens wordt al het verkeer vanaf je laptop tot aan je router versleuteld. Je internet dan dus in wezen vanaf je kantoor. Mail me voor meer info.
ciao
tim
Bren said,
July 24, 2007 @ 11:11 am (11:11)
Hey,
I’m having the same issue as you, Boris. I need to connect to the internet with my laptop, but I don’t have a public server, and I can’t install Hamachi in work. A quick google search revealed that there’s lots of public Hamachi servers that gamers use (probably because it’s cheaper that hosting a public gaming server). Maybe you could connect your Hamachi client to one of those? I don’t know whether you should trust a public gaming server with all your internet traffic though…. Just do a google search for “public Hamachi server” and see what you can find.
I might be able to use an SSH tunnel to a free server that’s located in the college I used to attend. That way my data would be encrypted from my laptop all the way to the server, just like a Hamachi VPN.
VPN Privacy said,
January 29, 2008 @ 2:13 pm (14:13)
Try out our anonymous vpn service . It is pptp VPN. No logs, safe canadian ip, unlimited traffic.