Are we too reliant on VPN?

Matthai

I trust only VPN that I am operating by myself.

banjo45673

Yeah seems Mullvad is the better choice here. Do you know which servers Mullvad owns?

What are your thoughts on iVPN?

gMan

banjo45673 not sure - seems it was a good company, but it's been sold to one that some people don't trust - IVPN was on my list of "trustworthy" VPN's before the sale

gMan

banjo45673 Do you know which servers Mullvad owns?

sorry - i missed that question - the only servers Mullvad owns are those in Sweden - you can get this info from their website

i believe there was recently some stupid law passed in Sweden regarding back-dooring encryption however??? i read something about that the other day but didn't look at the details

the only data any VPN can disclose is that which they keep, so i don't really have concerns with those operating in the 'eyes' countries, but if encryption is compromised, well, needless to say ...

Xtreix

banjo45673 https://mullvad.net/en/servers?ownership=true

gMan IVPN wasn't bought out; they acquired Safing.

https://www.ivpn.net/blog/ivpn-acquires-safing-portmaster-spn-network/

gMan

Xtreix oh yeah - that's right - thanks for the correction

it also looks like the criticism i read regarding Safing might be/is misplaced

i really like their website and stated ethics - i thought IVPN owned their servers but i'm not seeing that info on their site - does anyone know about this?

banjo45673

gMan

So iVPN is still reliable?

So when using Mullvad, setting the location to Sweden would theoretically be safer than other locations?

gMan

banjo45673 So iVPN is still reliable?

dunno, i haven't really done any research but i would guess it's ok

So when using Mullvad, setting the location to Sweden would theoretically be safer than other locations?

well, Mullvad owns their Sweden servers, so in theory, yes

i don't know what your threat model is, but if just more or less casual browsing, Azire, Mullvad or, probably, Ivpn would be fine

i'm sure you know that no VPN can be fully trusted unless, perhaps, you run your own server which you physically own and secure

i'm ok with Azire at the moment, but when it comes time for renewal i suspect i might go with Mullvad, or Ivpn once i know whether they own their servers and how they're secured

gristle-cause

banjo45673 So iVPN is still reliable

All evidence suggests IVPN is pretty decent & privacy respecting. The conspiratorial nutjob within me admittedly has a hard time trusting a US provider - to be clear, based on absolutely 0 evidence of wrongdoing.

Xtreix

banjo45673 So when using Mullvad, setting the location to Sweden would theoretically be safer than other locations?

This makes no difference and all servers run in RAM-only mode. Changing servers is useful for speed reasons or if the country where the server is located practises censorship.

banjo45673

gMan

Threat model for journalists and activists would be LE trying to locate physical location of someone who accessed certain websites and apps by trying to find their IP address

banjo45673

gristle-cause

So iVPN is now owned by a US company?

hardtimes

banjo45673

Are there any better methods or am I missing something?

I use always a VPN, but I noticed Starlink changes it's land-stations all over the place. That is kinda like no VPN but still confusing Locations for anyone snooping.

Eumenia

gMan only 2 that i'm aware of that are worth considering, they being Azire and Mullvad

Azure doesn't has a Linux client and I have never heard of it.
But Mullvad is very solid

gMan

Eumenia Azure doesn't has a Linux client and I have never heard of it.

Azire, not Azure, is in the process of stabilizing their infrastructure which is why they've not done audits yet - they had a Linux client, but development went stale - i suspect they will resurrect it in the future

if interested, spend some time going through their website - they are a unique company that seems to be doing it right, and the only company to my knowledge that owns all their servers and that's very important imo

ShoulderSurfin There are a lot of shady VPN providers.

for sure, MORE THAN YOU KNOW! it seems the vast majority of them are garbage - wrote about this here if interested

ShoulderSurfin

There are a lot of shady VPN providers. Just go on YouTube and see what they are pushing today. It is about which one is paying them the money.

MEGAbyter

gristle-cause Windscribe is a newcomer? They've been around a decade and were one of the fist VPNs I ever used. I think they were around a year or two before Proton.

gristle-cause

MEGAbyter they didn't have an audit on production infrastructure before they rolled out 'freshscribe' a few weeks ago. And they still lack some core features like multihop support

They look promising, but yes, I have only begun to consider them a serious contender quite recently. I dont particularly care how early they pushed out a MVP

MEGAbyter

gristle-cause Ah, I didnt know that they just released a new product. Since you seem so knowledgeable, do you have an opinion on vp.net? I'm starting to feel uncomfortable with how reliant on Proton I've been and vp.net is what I was considering switching to.

gMan

gristle-cause correct me if i'm wrong, but apparently Windscribe uses cloudflare for DNS and that isn't a good sign, at all

Security and Privacy of VPNs Running on Windows 10

Many VPNs have configured their applications to use public DNS services instead of their own DNS resolvers. Astrill VPN, Speedify, Touch VPN, and Windscribe used Cloudflare, a third-party public DNS service.

ShoulderSurfin

gMan .. thanks. I am good but I will read it.

banjo45673

gMan

What are the advantages of owning their own servers vs Mullvad that doesn't?

gristle-cause

MEGAbyter this is the first Ive heard of this provider. They seem interesting, from a cursory glance. They also seem very new. I'd need to do a much deeper dive on them to intelligently come to an informed opinion. Maybe another reader can weigh in

The only ones I trust today are those I listed: Mulvad, Proton, IVPN, increasingly Windscribe

gristle-cause

gMan I didn't actually know this, and it seems to be true. I agree, I'd prefer to see a VPN provider offer their own encrypted DNS servers. Though, to be clear, cloudfare encrypted DNS resolver isnt that bad. But I do consider that to be something a mature VPN provider should include

I'll file this under 'Windscribe shows promise as a service to keep an eye on, but they're still too young & underdeveloped to compete against the big names I trust'

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