Ask HN: Do I Need a VPN?

2 points·soapboxrocket··3 comments

I have a VPN and I use it when I'm out of the house/office but I question if I really need it. How many locations really have "hackers" just waiting for me to transfer a file or connect to a shopping site?

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If you're handling private / confidential data on public WiFi on a regular basis, it might be a good idea, but keep in mind that most websites have HTTPS security applied to them already, which means that communications are already secured in transit. VPNs only move the issue to another place if you're not using HTTPS, as it just moves the location that the data leaves in its insecure state.

VPNs aren't nearly as much of a godsend that they're made out to be. If you're trying to access geo-restricted content or bypass firewall blocking, it's alright, but at that point you might as well just use a proxy.

VPNs are not a replacement for thorough security measures. Use common sense and stay up to date on methods people commonly use to bypass security and do your best to keep it in mind.

If you're paranoid about DNS spoofing, use DNS over HTTPS or something like that.

Nobody NEEDS a VPN, and they're marketed rather improperly by a lot of providers. It makes me physically recoil when people say they VPNs protect them from hackers or protect from Malware and viruses because it is woefully ignorant.

Also, don't trust No-Logs policies. They still do it, guaranteed.

Thanks for the answer, this is really what I was looking for.

In regards to cloud drives (icloud, dropbox) are those encrypted when transferring data?

Sadly I don't think we can say for certain, that's why in these cases people typically stick to open source solutions, such as NextCloud.

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