diff --git a/content/providers/Choosing Your VPN Provider.md b/content/providers/Choosing Your VPN Provider.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b374360 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/providers/Choosing Your VPN Provider.md @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ +--- +title: "Choosing Your VPN Provider" +date: 2022-08-18 +tags: ['Providers', 'VPN', 'privacy'] +author: Tommy +--- + +Commercial VPNs are an important privacy tool. They hide your actual IP address from a third-party service, mitigating IP based tracking on the internet. I have written another post regarding their use cases [here](/knowledge/commercial-vpn-use-cases/). In this post I will walk you through what to look for when choosing a VPN provider. + +![Ethernet](/images/ethernet-1.jpg) + +## Modern Protocols + +The first thing you should look for in a provider is that they use a modern and secure protocol for their VPN tunnels. For a detailed comparison between common VPN protocols, you should read ProtonVPN's [blog post](https://protonvpn.com/blog/whats-the-best-vpn-protocol/) on this topic. + +In general, OpenVPN, Wireguard, and IKEv2/IPSec would serve you well. PPTP should be avoided at all cost due to various [known vulnerabilities](https://www.schneier.com/academic/archives/1999/09/cryptanalysis_of_mic_1.html). + +L2PT/IPSec is an interesting case, as it is quite complex and is difficult to set up properly. [Many VPN providers](https://gist.github.com/kennwhite/1f3bc4d889b02b35d8aa) opt into using a common pre-shared key and making themselves [vulnerable to MITM attacks](https://www.ivpn.net/knowledgebase/general/is-using-l2tporipsec-with-a-public-pre-shared-key-secure/). Leaked NSA documents also suggests that the agency is capable to at least weaken it to some capacity. You are better off just not using this protocol as well. + +## Encryption Key Stregth + +Along with supporting a good VPN protocol, VPN providers should use keys with sufficient stregth on their servers. For example, most VPN providers would use a well known encryption standard like AES 256 or ChaCha20 for data transfer and RSA 4096 or at least RSA 2048 for the handshake. + +While this is generally not a problem with most providers, there has been instances of VPN providers using very weak encryption, such as [ExpressVPN using RSA 1024 for their handshake](https://spec.matrix.org/unstable/rooms/) a few years ago. + +Before buying a VPN, you should check the provider's documentation on what type of encryption they use, or if they do not have it, ask their support directly. + +## Multi-Hopping + +This feature is not a must, but it is very nice to have. Not all VPN providers own their hardware, datacenter, and network + +## Pluggable Transport + +## Payment Methods + +## VPN Killswitch + +## DNS Filtering + +## Infrastructure + +## General Trustworthiness + +## Personal Recommendations + +### ProtonVPN + +### Mullvad + +### IVPN + +## Notes + +### Self-Hosted VPN + +### VPN Review Websites + +### "The Only True VPN Rating System on The Net" \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/static/images/ethernet-1.jpg b/static/images/ethernet-1.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..61aba78 Binary files /dev/null and b/static/images/ethernet-1.jpg differ