LebGeeks

Metalloy

Member

VPN, any experiences?

Hello geeks,
Some of you already know that I'm traveling to KSA very soon and start a new life.
And after a fast research, it turns out that having a VPN account is the way to go.
Now I read a lot of artciles about VPN providers and I basically found "private internet access" A.K.A "PIA" to be the best fit for my needs.

my questions are the following:
1) Any of you have any experience with this provider?
2) can I buy an account when I'm in Lebanon and use it later in KSA?
3) Can the Saudi goverment detect that I am using VPN service?
4) Any other comments regarding using VPN services?

amkahal

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

do you want to use VPN for securing internet surfing ??

Metalloy

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

to be able to secure access to sites and services such as youtube, skype, viber...
I heard that youtube is already blocked and whatsapp, viber and skype are on there way to be blocked, and you never know what's next
40$ a year for peace of mind is quite a bargain

riqmarmes

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

You could get a VPS, and connect through SSH if you want, or use it as a VPN. You'll be able to do more stuff using the server instead of just having a vpn. Of course you don't have to but I thought you might be interested.

Metalloy

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

seems a little too complicated.

venam

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

--

Last edited by venam (July 31 2013)

Metalloy

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

I read everywhere that I'm better off with a paid service, for both speed and security reasons.
40$ a year is nothing really.

amkahal

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

i have faced the same situation, and I've got a VPS with minimum specs. then created a SSH tunnel and it is really fast.
if you have some technical skills, i will help you in the steps, it is not difficult at all.

Metalloy

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

Does it have any additional benefits over VPN when it comes to my needs?

amkahal

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

The answer is YES, if you are related to CS or IT, so you can deploy a SSH server, Web Server, ...

the answer is NO, if you just want to secure your traffic, i think that the VPN is best that SSH tunnel for many reasons.

Metalloy

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

No it is

amkahal

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

No it is

Then good luck with your VPN account ;)

Gamer

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

to be able to secure access to sites and services such as youtube, skype, viber...
I heard that youtube is already blocked and whatsapp, viber and skype are on there way to be blocked, and you never know what's next
40$ a year for peace of mind is quite a bargain

I was in KSA 2 days ago, youtube is not blocked and I did not hear about the other apps being blocked
in Oman all VOIP are blocked (skype, facetime, etc..)

Metalloy

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

to be able to secure access to sites and services such as youtube, skype, viber...
I heard that youtube is already blocked and whatsapp, viber and skype are on there way to be blocked, and you never know what's next
40$ a year for peace of mind is quite a bargain

I was in KSA 2 days ago, youtube is not blocked and I did not hear about the other apps being blocked
in Oman all VOIP are blocked (skype, facetime, etc..)

are you sure? because I didnt subcribe yet.
What about torrents?

Ghaleb

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

I recently came back from Saudi Arabia as i was residing there for more than 2 years and I can confirm that youtube is not blocked. Some youtube videos that contain explicit material are blocked but they can be accessed using  the secure http (https) instead of (http). Skype, viber and all of the other voip apps are working. Torrents applications are also working. I think you will need VPN if you want to secure your traffic or if you want to access adult content, other than that everything is accessible with high speeds and cheap prices

Metalloy

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

Alright thanks for confirmation Ghaleb.

Fischer

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

No need for a vpn man, no need for a vpn at all, use tor web browser. Issue solved.

That being said, I don't trust any vpn provider, none, not even one. If you want a vpn, buy a decent dedicated server and use it as your vpn, but as i said, you don't even need a vpn. You need tor, see who uses tor.

Last edited by Fischer (May 25 2013)

samer

Admin

Re: VPN, any experiences?

Tor would be too slow to stream videos or engage in any other high-bandwidth activity. A VPS with OpenVPN or an SSH tunnel are essential if performance matters.

@fisher: it all depends on who you are protecting yourself against. Understanding your threat model is essential when it comes to security. In this case, I doubt any non-arab VPS or VPN company will disclose anything to the KSA.

Joe

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

It's the first time I see someone referring to it as the "tor web browser". It may be a bit pedantic of me, but Tor is anything but a web browser. Also I agree with the sentiment already expressed that Tor is too slow for regular browsing.

Unfortunately I have never bought a VPN account anywhere, but I can help out if you ever decide to host and build your own VPN.

Fischer

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

if not tor, then you could use a decent proxy, you just don't need a vpn if all you need to do is hide your ip, the simplest solution is usually the right one.

And he doesn't have about the internet speed if he uses tor in ksa, i do agree that tor in lebanon sucks, but they have blazing fast internet connection in ksa and pretty much in all the civilized world, i really doubt that he'll notice any serious performance drawback. At least he can give it a try before he buy a vpn.

When i refereed to tor as a web browser, i was telling him to download the firefox bundle that has tor built it, it is easier than setting up tor for a new user.

Last edited by Fischer (May 25 2013)

Metalloy

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

Apparently I wont need VPN after all so I wont get an accoubt for now, I'll see what is like there, and If I had to I'll subscribe.
I'm with samer when it comes to knowing what am i protecting myself of; A USA based company simply wont share info with an Arab goverment.

Fischer

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

When i said that i don't trust vpn providers, i wasn't concern about sharing my info, it's the least of my concerns actually. If i have a vpn, here's just few things that i can do to you:

monitor your ip
download anything on your pc.
if you go to google.com, you might be actually be going to a fake page that i created and i control.
I could control your pc using rats, keyloggers...
i could get your passwords, credit cards whatever.
When you use me as your vpn provider, you no  longer own a pc, i own your pc, it becomes mine.

My friend bought a dedicated server, created a vpn, asked me to use it to see how dangerous it could be, i went to google.com and he typed in the search bar, he controlled that page, went to facebook.com and he did a phishing attack on me. We were having fun, the same sort of fun that you and your vpn provider could be having,

Would you trust a vpn provider? i wouldn't, facebook, the site which should be the most trusted site out there, is sharing my info with CIA and God knows who... How do you think they're making money? web ads won't make you a billionaire! Twitter is hacked every now and then. The first rule to protect yourself from hacking is never to trust anyone

Anyway if you want to use a vpn, good luck.

Last edited by Fischer (May 25 2013)

Joe

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

Oh wow!

And he doesn't have about the internet speed if he uses tor in ksa, i do agree that tor in lebanon sucks, but they have blazing fast internet connection in ksa and pretty much in all the civilized world, i really doubt that he'll notice any serious performance drawback.

I live in France and have access to very fast internet connections. Tor is still barely usable. Yes you can go on Facebook or Google, but forget about Youtube or streaming any kind of media. However, I agree with you that it's worth trying before subscribing to a VPN.

monitor your ip
download anything on your pc.
if you go to google.com, you might be actually be going to a fake page that i created and i control.
I could control your pc using rats, keyloggers...
i could get your passwords, credit cards whatever.
When you use me as your vpn provider, you no  longer own a pc, i own your pc, it becomes mine.

Some FUD right here.

• A VPN provider only has access to what you send it. It cannot download anything on your PC or "control your pc using rats, keyloggers". If I'm mistaken, I would be very interested in you showing me otherwise.

• Password and credit card numbers can be read only if sent unencrypted over the network. That should almost never happen.

As far as I know, a VPN provider only has access to the list of URLs the client is targeting. The main thing to fear is MITM attacks. This risk is very real.

Would you trust a vpn provider? i wouldn't, facebook, the site which should be the most trusted site out there, is sharing my info with CIA and God knows who... How do you think they're making money? web ads won't make you a billionaire!

This is just wrong. I don't know if Facebook sells its data to the "CIA and God knows who...", but online advertising is a multi-billion dollar a year industry.

Fischer

Member

Re: VPN, any experiences?

1- facebook ads and ads in general are no longer a good to earn billions of dollars, thanks to adblockers and educated users who just ignore them, last year gmc stopped a 10 mil $ facebook ad campaign, it wasn't working, Big dogs are thinking twice about advertising on the web. And yes facebook sells your information to both governments and marketing companies. a quick search and you'll find thousands of results, in fact mark had many issues with the law, but billionaires don't go to jail you know. And don't forget to check project RIOT.

2- if i do a man in the middle attack i can packet sniffer and collect passwords, personally identifiable information, credit card numbers from the traffic. I can do whatever i want.

Or man in the browser attack, injecting keyloggers and rats to the sites that the user usually use, i could easily trick him to download whatever i want him to download, since i can manipulate the websites that he visits. I could make the website download the trojan on his pc when clicks on the link, my friends did that years ago to me as a prank :) they told me to go to example.com and when i clicked on the link, adult stuff got downloaded to my pc :) i had to restore windows. but imagine if it wasn't. Hacking is 70% tricking your victim to do what you want him to do. My friends hacked many paypals but I'm not so bad.

i hate hurting people, but we were just a bunch of teenagers. If you want i can do a tutorial on it when i'm done with my final exam though i'm not into hacking anymore.

Last edited by Fischer (May 26 2013)