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Re: [LUG] OT: working abroad

 

On Sun, Aug 19, 2018 at 05:33:50PM +0000, mr meowski wrote:
> In 2018 using a VPN to secure yourself against incompetent/malicious 
> networks, service provider DNS "features", traffic logging, etc is just 
> standard practice surely? Not only for protection whilst travelling 
> either, home traffic should be VPN'd by default as well to protect you 
> and your family from err, well, everything. ISP and Government mischief 
> being top of the list.

At the other end of your VPN connection, there's also an ISP and also a
government.

I used to rent a server at Digital Ocean where I ran OpenVPN, but it
often didn't work and in the end wasn't worth the trouble, so now I'm
using a commercial VPN whenever I need or want one.

I do think I understand threat models, as well as how encryption works,
well enough to make informed decisions about being able to connect to
Gmail or Twitter, even on a rogue network.

This isn't true for everyone, but the security risk is extremely small
these days, with all important web services using HTTPS. Because various
kinds of government-mandated filtering is taking place, often at the DNS
level, I would recommend having an easy to use VPN available, especially
when you're travelling abroad. But it's for convenience, not security.

Martijn.


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