Tag: vpn

Private VPNs – What are they?

Several companies out there are advertising VPN apps and services to provide ‘total’ protection for your surfing. We’re going to look at what a VPN is and what kind of protection you really get from it.

A VPN or Virtual Private Network is a network where the traffic is encrypted so that when it passes through another network on the way to it’s destination the actual packets are scrambled and in theory can’t be deciphered. The truth is that with enough horsepower and the right software the packets can be decrypted it’s just very tough and takes a lot of effort to capture all the packets and decipher the traffic.

VPNs are used by companies to form links from one office to another over the internet. The traffic is then decrypted on the other end. This encryption allows sensitive data to go from one place to another without being ‘seen’ by UN-authorized people. It saves companies thousands of dollars by enabling the to use the internet to move traffic from one office to another without having to get dedicated hard-wired connections to each office.

VPNs come in two basic flavors –

VPNs that are routed based on ip addresses and go from one pre-programmed point to another . This is usually done on a router and something you’d find in large Corporations.

Software VPNs that use software on each end and some kind of address mediation to make a connection and then encrypt the traffic.

Just about every VPN app out there is using software VPNs. This makes it easier for them to add more servers and addresses as their subscriber list grows.

What kind of Protection are you getting?

Most VPN apps encrypt your traffic from your device to a server they have connected to the internet that acts as a ‘proxy’ for your traffic. So if you have selected either manually or automatically a server in Atlanta, your traffic to your bank, email server, or web site will look like you are in Atlanta. You can easily check this by going to IP-Chicken

This encryption means that if someone is on the same network with you or a machine has been hacked on your network and is gathering information your traffic will be unreadable for them, to all intents and purposes. This is how most people end up getting hacked. They’re on public wifi somewhere or using hotel wifi and someone is on the network watching all the traffic. Someone could even just attach a computer at the right spot on the network and run an app that watches traffic and grabs passwords.

It is IMPORTANT to remember that this does NOT mean that your traffic is totally protected all the way to your destination. You are protected by the VPN until you come out on the VPN server. In the example above your traffic from Atlanta to wherever you are going would be normal traffic. Maybe encrypted if the site you are on has https but not the heavy encryption that a VPN provides.

This is an important consideration when you decide what sites to look at while you are away from your home network. Remember – with enough computers and equipment basically none of your traffic is 100% secure. It just that there is so much traffic out there that most of us get something called Security-Through-Obscurity, basically meaning it’s too much effort for a normal hacker to single someone out in a high traffic environment. You’re going to end up on the internet at some point and if you’re coming out of a high traffic environment you’ll be a bit more ‘obscure’

VPNs can be a great thing when you’re traveling or if you use a laptop and move from office to office and don’t have any control over the network you’re on or are unsure about who is managing the network.

VPNs aren’t probably providing much benefit if your local network is secure.

Traveling with a Cell Phone

I was recently asked to recommend some software for a client’s friend to use while traveling out of the country so they wouldn’t get ‘hacked’ As I struggled to think of any one package that could make them safe I realized this was actually a larger question.

When traveling abroad you will more than likely stand out from the locals. Also if they are scanning all the phones in the area they will not recognize your phone and there is always the possibility that the local service provider in the area has some employees that ‘moonlight’. Several issues come to mind and I’ll try to address the basic ones.

There are several things that can happen:
1. your phone can get it’s information stolen and be ‘cloned’
2. you could lose passwords and user ids to some of your sites
3. emails could be intercepted and web traffic monitored

First lets address the difference between iphones and android devices. According to CoCospy – Iphones are easily cloned by acquiring their icloud credentials. Android phones on the other hand cannot be cloned unless you have physical access to them. It would make some sense not to travel with an iphone if you can avoid it.


The real danger lies in using wifi at hotels and restaurants. This lowers the bar for hackers and without getting too technical here it gives them an opportunity to steal ids and passwords as your phone visits sites. (ie.. and icloud checkin or picture upload, or a bank or credit card login) Once someone can monitor your wifi traffic you have problems.

To combat this many people are buying ‘private VPN’ subscriptions. Companies like Avast sell vpn services through apps on your phone and they can range from free to several dollars a month. Generally you get what you pay for. To understand what’s going on with a vpn app think about your traffic (emails, credit card apps, video chats, ect… ) being totally scrambled between your phone and a server somewhere on the internet like Atlanta or Chicago, after it gets there it goes out on the internet as normal traffic. This lets you ‘hop’ over anyone that is in your general network area and keep them from being able to grab traffic and decipher it. It is important to remember this security is NOT absolute. Someone could still catch traffic as you come out of the server in Atlanta or Chicago but there will be so much traffic and because some other security measures kick in there would be a very small chance someone could intercept anything useful.

The other option would be to get a prepaid phone that’s cheap. Forward your calls and don’t take your nice phone with you.

If you decide to take your phone you should definitely avoid wifi if you’ve got coverage and your carrier isn’t going to break your wallet on roaming charges. Ask them about roaming before you go. If it’s more than you want to spend you’ll want to turn your data off on your phone. This is a simple button on the top of an android or one of the first preferences in an Apple device.

If you decide to use wifi, keep it off until you’re ready to use it. When you go to use it turn on your VPN as soon as attach to the wireless. Leave the vpn on and don’t turn it off. Also look on your phone and make sure it’s not set to attach to unsecured wifi automatically.

Charging your phone – It’s very important that you use your own cable and power supply to charge your phone. There are multiple devices both cable and power supplies that are designed to hack your phone using circuitry embedded in either the cable or the power supply. Charge with your own cable/battery!

With a little bit of care and sense you should do just fine. Remember your phone can be worth a lot of money to thieves. Don’t leave it lying anywhere even for a minute.