Privacy

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Can someone explain to me the advantages of using a VPN? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 day ago by shapis@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

44 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've been using one but I'm not sure what benefits I'm getting from it. I feel like the only thing happening is I'm adding a little bit of latency to all my requests for no reason.

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[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 35 points 1 day ago (2 children)

            
              Pros:
Websites can't see your real IP and thus can't figure out your real location that easily
You might also be able to blend in with other users who use the same VPN server

Your ISP can't see what you're websites you're connecting to
Your Network operator (e.g. a coffee shop offering public wifi) and you're ISP can't see your unencrypted connections (e.g. HTTP, Telnet)
You can bypass regional censorship or other forms of content unavailability

Cons:
Your VPN provider can see everything you're connecting to (but not the content if you use HTTPS, which thankfully has become very common), so you need to be able to trust them
A good and trustworthy VPN usually costs money
Slightly slower connection and higher latency

Things to look out for when choosing a VPN provider:
No-log policy
Regular security audits
Open source client applications
Private/anonymous payment options (crypto currency)
Monero is the best option if you want to stay fully anonymous

Minimal information required for signing up, ideally none (some providers don't even require an email address, they just give you a random generated Account ID)


            
          

[–] AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 12 points 14 hours ago (3 children)

Mullvad is the gold standard for VPNs in my book

[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 hours ago

It matches all the criteria I outlined. IVPN too btw: https://www.ivpn.net/

They're also on Mastodon, which is also a plus in my opinion (not really significant though) @ivpn@mastodon.social

[–] Chulk@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 hours ago

The fact that they allow you to order a physical voucher with a product key, and that product key serves as your only authentication makes it especially anonymous. I love it.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

And ProtonVPN IMO.

[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 hours ago

Yeah. Proton, Mullvad and IVPN are the three best providers out there. That's also why they're recommended by privacy/security enthusiasts: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/?h=vpn#recommended-providers

[–] Scolding7300@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

In the cons there's also an increase of the attack surface since you'll be using a program to run the VPN

On the pros, some offer DNS blocking

[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 hours ago

WireGuard is now even part of the Linux kernel. The protocol and the reference implementation are fully open source, you can just download a WG profile from your provider and you won't even have to use their application.

On the pros, some offer DNS blocking

You can also set that up without a VPN, or independently of your VPN. The standard WireGuard client doesn't interfere with your DNS setup.

[–] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone -2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Wireguard and openvpn both have open source clients.

[–] Scolding7300@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

That may make it more secure than other clients, but the surface is still larger. Any time you add an executable