What is VPN?

Cosimo · 23 Oct 2012 at 07:13

I'd be expecting a knock on the door from the vice squad any day now.

scrlk · 23 Oct 2012 at 07:24

PardonTheWait said:
NOTHING

That's how they get you. Has your computer got a bit slower lately?

If it has, you need to take it immediately to a scrapyard and get them to zap it with one of the huge magnets they use to pick up cars. They might charge you as much as £500 for this but it's worth it, otherwise you'll probably end up in prison for terrorism charges.

Been watching Breaking Bad then?

randomshenans · 23 Oct 2012 at 07:30

What is this, VPN? :/

Devrij · 23 Oct 2012 at 07:59

I always get a bit mixed up on the difference between remote desktop and VPN. I know remote desktop is using a pc from afar, and I've always understood a VPN as simply adding another hop onto the traffic leaving your network (to a destination of your choice, for instance a country where a game has been released early). Is that correct?

Knubje · 23 Oct 2012 at 08:58

Legit OP is legit...

Nexus · 23 Oct 2012 at 09:02

This thread reminds me of when you sell something on eBay and the buyer contacts you trying to cancel the auction because their 'Brother/Uncle/Dad/Dog' got on their computer and placed the bid.

InertProtocol · 23 Oct 2012 at 09:08

Put your tin foil hat one...

They're...watching...you...

My advice, rent a lead lined bunker in the middle of nowhere until we come get you.

Pestilence · 23 Oct 2012 at 09:12

You wouldn't download a car.

Tican · 23 Oct 2012 at 09:15

Pestilence said:
You wouldn't download a car.

I would if I could!

Pestilence · 23 Oct 2012 at 09:30

Tican said:
I would if I could!

bitslice · 23 Oct 2012 at 10:09

FoxEye said:
Every time you use VPN, you sponsor terrorism, drug smuggling, and kitten huffing.

I learned that in one of those F.A.C.T. adverts.

Oh no, I didn't know about the kitten huffing

I'll hand my computer into the Police VPN department today

Mr. Peri Peri · 23 Oct 2012 at 12:19

VPN is software developed by the FBI to track down people doing things they shouldn't be.

They trick people in to using it to think they are safe but in fact log everything you do.

Long story short, you are screwed. The only cure is to delete System32 as this removes the tracking functionality.

Kosmiche · 23 Oct 2012 at 12:28

Only time I've used a vpn is to play steam games on the american release date so I didn't have to wait for them to be officially released in the UK.

Did this with lord of the rings war in the north.

NathanE · 23 Oct 2012 at 12:44

VPN is something that connects two or more computers together so that they can share data on an encrypted basis even though that encrypted data is publicly visible. There are all sorts of different VPN configuration including mesh, hub and spoke, etc.

These "piracy VPNs" aren't really VPNs at all. They are better described as "tunnels", "bouncers", "proxies", "gateways" or hell even just "routers" but they most definitely are not a VPN. I don't really understand why they have hijacked the term to mean something that it is not.

wildman · 23 Oct 2012 at 12:44

is your uncle called Peter File by any chance ?

Mat · 23 Oct 2012 at 12:55

Go ask him if he's got a VPL as well...

ikillbears · 23 Oct 2012 at 13:12

wildman said:
is your uncle called Peter File by any chance ?

PistolPete · 23 Oct 2012 at 14:05

NathanE said:
These "piracy VPNs" aren't really VPNs at all. They are better described as "tunnels", "bouncers", "proxies", "gateways" or hell even just "routers" but they most definitely are not a VPN. I don't really understand why they have hijacked the term to mean something that it is not.

A VPN is simply a secure network over a insecure medium. In the case of the type of VPN being discussed here IS an VPN as there is a secure network between you and the endpoint provider over an insecure medium, in this case the Internet.

A VPN is what it is, tunneling/privacy is what it's used for in this case.
Proxying, bouncing and routing would normally be done directly across the insecure medium, although they too could be done across a VPN for additional security.

Ascendancy · 23 Oct 2012 at 14:39

Your uncle is downloading kiddie porn.

NathanE · 23 Oct 2012 at 15:21

PistolPete said:
A VPN is simply a secure network over a insecure medium. In the case of the type of VPN being discussed here IS an VPN as there is a secure network between you and the endpoint provider over an insecure medium, in this case the Internet.

A VPN is what it is, tunneling/privacy is what it's used for in this case.
Proxying, bouncing and routing would normally be done directly across the insecure medium, although they too could be done across a VPN for additional security.

Incorrect.

The crux of the matter is that a VPN provides you with access to "private" network resources that would otherwise be inaccessible from the current network e.g. the public internet, and, crucially, traffic sent across this virtual private network never leaves the bounds of it. Since you do not actually *need* a VPN in order to access the public internet then it is not a VPN.

"Private network" implies the machines on it use a private IP addressing scheme. "Virtual" implies that the private network is being virtualised over a public network, through the means of PKI based encryption to ensure the privacy.

Whilst services like VyprVPN do issue your computer with a private IP address, it is merely an implementation detail of their service. That IP address is useless because no other machines on the VyprVPN service can "ping" you on that address. Every machine is self-segregated and effectively on their own "one-machine" private network, so it isn't really a network at all.

*If* VyprVPN (or some other) eventually lets you connect multiple PCs that you own to the same private network and those machines can ping each other via that private network... then and only then can it be considered a true VPN.

A better description of these particular services how they stand today is "secure routing tunnel". But hey, VPN sounds cooler to the laymen that use them.