The importance of VPNs

The Emperor's Lounge
#1

The real issue isn’t just having stuff to hide or not. The real issue is OPSEC. Identity Theft isn’t usually one large thing where someone swoops in and steals your identity at once. They get enough info from disparate sources to piece together what they need.

Back when John Walker was selling secrets to the former Soviet Union, he sold the cryptographic manuals for a piece of crypto gear he thought the Russians and other communist countries could never possibly get their hands on.

But they did via the Pueblo incident. I’ve found stuff out about people I wanted to dig dirt up on by having seemingly harmless conversations with people…getting them to open up and they invariably drop little nuggets about the person in question without even realizing they are. or they think they’re giving just enough where you can’t possibly use it.

But you can gather enough info together to do a lot sometimes.

This weird rant has been brought to you by tiredness lol

7 Likes
#2

Q: If you aren’t doing anything wrong, why’s privacy matter?

A: I’m not doing anything wrong when I’m taking a poop in the bathroom, but that doesn’t mean I want anyone else in my bathroom stall watching me.

So @RockyHandsome, “You might not have anything to hide, my friend. But you have everything to protect” - Mikko Hypponen

2 Likes
#3
1 Like
#4

Just because I close my curtains at night doesn’t mean I have something to hide

1 Like
#5

Big VPN services are bought by an Israeli company. So, the MOSSAD will get your data.

Just a little disruptive comment.

You probably have to choose your VPN wisely.

#6

I remember having a conversation with a coworker years ago about a similar topic. He insisted that only people with something to hide would ever need to use encryption outside of online banking etc. I mentioned that every e-commerce site needs encryption, to which he replied that he would only buy from reputable sites that wouldn’t steal his data. Older guy, he just didn’t understand packet sniffing, data breaches, man-in-the-middle attacks, etc.

Finally I asked if he had a shed in his backyard, and he said yes. I asked if he locked it, and he said “of course not… nothing worth stealing in there.” So I said “ok, how about I go stick a bag of weed in there, and then report you for drug possession. There’s no lock, so I could do it, and it’s in your shed so you’d get in trouble… no proof it wasn’t yours.”

That finally got him to understand that encryption is for protection, not (just) for hiding.

4 Likes
#7

I highly recommend Mullvad VPN.

Most private vpn out there (you do not need any data to register), great pricing and the speed is top notch for me.

I would stay away from ExpressVPN and NordVPN because of the privacy aspect even though their speed is fantastic