Broadband Tech > Virtual Private Networking > VPN Proxpin or Raptor?

VPN Proxpin or Raptor?

1) Generally speaking, SSL is the same stuff as HTTPS websites use, while L2TP can use 3DES
or stronger. There's no one 'better' than the other, it comes down to a personal preference
/ paranoia thing.

2) Yes.

My 00000010bits.

Regards

Thanks Hellfire for the good explanation of the difference.
Would you have any suggestions for a free, safe VPN with unlimited bandwidth...I moved into an apartment that has free Wifi. [the same unsecured wifi as the Starbucks in the building?
I need the xtra security for passwords, etc.
Thanks again.

reply to houndog
Why should you trust *any* VPN provider? Esp. Raptor, seems kind of chezzy to me. Remember, a VPN is no panacea. You're funneling all your traffic to them, and nothing stops them from eavesdropping either. That's why I always ask, WHY, on what basis, should any VPN provider be trusted? Ppl just seem to assume they should be. But any bored, 14 yr old teenager can setup a VPN and have the time of their life digging for gold.

Consider this. Ask your landlord to enable wireless security, even if the username/password is well known. Every wifi session generates its own unique session key. So even if everyone knows the username/password, at least no one can eavesdrop on anyone else’s traffic!

The problem w/ wifi is that the username/password became bound to encryption (specify the former, you get the latter, don't specify the former, you don't get the latter). But that shouldn't have been done. It should have been the case that even without username/password, encryption could still be enabled. But since that's not the case, then the next best solution is to use a well known username/password (perhaps SSID/SSID) so at least encryption is enabled. Esp. in an environment where everyone knows everyone else and can discuss it w/ the landlord (he probably doesn’t even realize it). Obviously it’s a much tougher sell to a commercial enterprise like Starbucks. At least that way no one needs to waste money on a VPN, or have to trust them. Better your traffic simply get lost in the vastness of the Internet than drive all of it through one, unknown entity.

Hello Eibgrad...If Keyscrambler is used with a VPN...would this work?
I am primarily concerned with someone next door, including Starbucks, getting into computer, someone getting into bank sites when I am connected... also, I am worried about someone getting passwords...I have nothing else that is a privacy issue... for example emails...I don't care who reads them......
I guess now I should worry about which VPN is a legitimate one?

I will also try and contact someone in building management to give them your post so they will know what to do.
Thanks in advance,

reply to houndog
Remember, as long as you're using SSL, your transactions are just as secure as if your wireless was secured. The problem is open wireless COMBINED w/ non SSL (or otherwise secured) transactions. You probably don't care if someone eavesdrops on your Google searches (well, you might, but it's not a real security threat), and the fact it’s done over open wifi and http, it’s just not a big deal. And if you’re using your bank's online website, or shopping online, virtually all of them use SSL as well, so again, it doesn't matter. In most cases, the only advantage of a VPN (in terms of security) is that you don't have to think about it, from site to site, transaction to transaction. That's a nice convenience. But it's not a requirement. And as far as email, I personally prefer it be encrypted because many times personal information is being transmitted, sometime a password I've forgotten and asked to have resent. That's why you (assuming it concerns you as well) should only use an email provider that supports SSL (e.g., Gmail). Just one less thing to worry about.

reply to houndog
eibgrad pretty much hit all the highpoints against presuming VPN is a magical wand solution to all
your security / privacy concerns. If your main concern is wireless security, do what you can to
secure it. Do NOT let someone else do it for you. If you're not sure how, there's a couple forums
on this board which can help you out.

Not to add to your security woes, but there's also a slew of other ways for people to get to your
traffic, of which I won't bore you with. Your best defence right now is to educate yourself as
much as possible.

Best of luck, and Regards

Thanks to both of you for your help.
I do use Gmail and have secured my Windows internals with regard to security choices. But I will post another thread to see if I missed anything.
I can't secure anything with regards to the router or password as this is under the buildings control. I will talk to the people in-charge of the router and isp but I don't think they will be helpful.
I guess the only thing that you folks could help me clarify is...can anyone get into my computer from next door or upstairs and do anything that could cause me problems... considering that I can use a VPN and Keyscrambler. Thanks to both of you again.

reply to houndog
Keystroke scramblers protect you against one form of attack. But that’s only relevant to applications/devices already installed/available on your computer. It’s not addressing network issues per se, but things you’ve either installed yourself, or perhaps from viruses that’s you’ve picked up from previous network activity. Frankly, it’s a bit like closing the barn door after the cows have already left.

As hellfire suggests, there many avenues of attack within a network, especially when you share that network w/ potentially hostile users.

I would strongly recommend treating the apartment’s wifi as your ISP, and just like any cable/dsl ISP, install a wireless router. The only difference is that the router should support WISP (wireless ISP) mode. Instead of running an ethernet cable from the WAN port of the router to a modem, a WISP router establishes it’s WAN over to another wireless AP (in this case, the apartment’s wifi). By doing so, you’ve built your own local network based on your own hardware, which gives you the protection of your own firewall. It also means you’re not limited to a single device (if the landlord either now or later imposes such a limitation). Now you’re less prone to ethernet attacks (e.g., ARP spoofing). One of the least secure elements of any network is ethernet, and the more you can do to maintain your own ethernet network and stay off someone else’s ethernet network (or more importantly, keep others off your ethernet network), the better. That’s why even in the case of users using cable/dsl and who only have a single PC/laptop, I still recommend a wireless router. It’s not the ability to share that’s important, it’s the hardware level protection it provides, be it one or many local devices.

While they do sell WISP routers (although they’re not common), it’s easy enough to make your own. Just get yourself a wireless ethernet bridge (or configure one using a dd-wrt or tomato compatible router) and patch it to the WAN port of your wireless router (assuming you have one). You could also use a single dd-wrt router and configure it as a “repeater” (not “repeater bridge”), which is in fact, a WISP router configuration.

Obviously all this would be overkill on the road w/ your laptop (although some ppl do carry portable WISP routers for this reason), but at home, where I had the space and it was practical, that’s the first thing I would do.

P.S. If you did use a dd-wrt router, you could configure the router as a VPN client so all your devices always used the VPN (PPTP or OpenVPN). That's a nice convenience.

Wow, I didn't know that could be done...Thanks for all your time you are putting in answering my questions. It is really appreciated.

Can you tell me exactly what to buy[type of router, ethernet switch, etc] and what I have to do to set this thing up??.... the easiest type of set up...What to plug in , How to make connections and What to do to make the whole thing work?

I tried googling WISP router and am confused with this [Seems like only one company makes it?]
Thanks again for all your time.