Vpn?

[Gren]

Is it worth installing a VPN on a Sept. 2019 iMac running Mojave? Would it slow down my broadband (currently 67 Mbps)?

If so, what would you recommend? I'd be grateful for any advice and experiences, thanks.

 

[Nehalem]

I have a VPN Running on my Mac 27" 2019 and it causes no problems , as far as I know it won't slow your broadband down .

 

[IWT]

Hi Gren

Nice to hear from you again.

A VPN will not noticeably slow down your broadband especially with the download you have. I have half that speed and don't really see much difference.

With a good VPN, it will offer choices, eg, to use the fastest connection; it will offer "favourites" based on your real location; and it will, or should have, a fairly global reach.

Choosing a VPN - well, you can Google "best VPNs" for example. From a general standpoint, I would say:

Avoid free VPNs - how do they make their money if not compromising on something.....

As regards pay-for VPNs, apart from Googling the "best", you might want to consider where they are based. For example, would the government of that country have the power to force the VPN to disclose your traffic and sites? Does the VPN "guarantee" not to track you or store info about you? Things like that. Check to make sure they a "kill" key which immediately closes the connection if there's any threat or suchlike.

Also, cost - an annual sub is cheaper than a monthly one.

You might want to think which country you would appear to be located when using the VPN and how many options are there for/in that country.

As to whether "it's worth it"; that depends on where you live, what your site preferences are, how concerned you are about security and so on.

I use ExpressVPN mostly when I need to. I used to use Private Internet Access (PIA) which is/was fine too. As others post to this thread, you will get myriad recommendations, I'm sure.

That's a start.

Ian

 

[IWT]

Gren,

In addition to the above:

There are situations where, in my view anyway, a VPN is essential -

Where there is free WiFi: buses, trains, airports, cafes, hotels etc - always use a VPN.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

I use NordVPN. It's good, solid, lots of options. I do see a small slowdown in download speeds, depending on which server I connect to in the other end. If it's too slow, I move to another server and it usually goes away. YMMV.

 

[Nehalem]

Hey,
Yeah I use NORD VPN myself , works for me

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I wouldn't touch NordVPN. They got hacked hard and didn't disclose it for 19 months. Whether they deliberately hid it for 19 months or were so inept that it took them that long to discover it isn't really relevant... that's nearly 2 years that their service was compromised for. I've read other articles/comments online with hard questions about the integrity of the people running the company. They also heavily promote/hype their service, which in my mind can be a red flag when they overdo it.
Hackers steal secret crypto keys for NordVPN. Here’s what we know so far | Ars Technica

Picking a VPN is tough because there isn't much of a way to verify that they do what they claim. I use Private Internet Access for largely the simple reason that they are the only VPN provider that has been taken to court for logs and they couldn't produce them because they don't keep them... as advertised. But they aren't without their critics either. Wirecutter seems to have one of the better articles diving into how to pick one.
The Best VPN Service for 2019: Reviews by Wirecutter

 

[RadDave]

Hi Gren - you've already received some great advice and with a few caveats - as is evident, there are plenty of options and I agree to stay away from the 'free' ones - the cost for many is fairly small; I use PIA (Private Internet Access), started back in 2017 w/ great reviews at the time - renewed my subscription last year ($80 for 2 years) - BUT, do some searching for 'best VPNs' and see what the recent recommendations may be (some links have already been given, including mine to the PIA website).

As to a VPN's effect on your network's behavior, especially speed - I just connected my MBAir to PIA which used their server in Atlanta - in the first pic, the IP addresses of my ISP vs. PIA are shown (the last 2 octets have been blocked) - I ran a speedtest on the laptop before and after the VPN connection and the speeds were about the same (2nd pic); as w/ others, if my speed did slow down substantially, I'd try another PIA server.

Now another question that might be addressed by posters is the issue of 'when' to use the VPN - at home behind my router, I tend not to turn on PIA; however, on the road using public Wi-Fi networks, e.g. at airports, hotels, etc. I always activated the VPN - would be curious how others feel about the best times to use their VPNs, particularly if connection speeds are an issue? Dave
.

.

 

[IWT]

Hi Dave

would be curious how others feel about the best times to use their VPNs

Well my answer was in post #4 which chimes in with yours.

Ian

 

[Gren]

Thanks everyone, useful information.

 

[MacInWin]

@LIAB, I don't know where Ars Technica has been, but I knew about the NordVPN breech last year. They took care of it then, no reason to think they are at risk now. The breech was not their doing, but the data center they rented space from. They terminated that contract, indicated the stolen data could not be use in any other datacenter. The risk was almost zero.

As for logs, etc., as long as you don't use the net for illegal activity, it's not a real concern. If you are using the internet for illegal activity, VPN is not sufficient security in and of itself.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

@LIAB, I don't know where Ars Technica has been, but I knew about the NordVPN breech last year. They took care of it then, no reason to think they are at risk now. The breech was not their doing, but the data center they rented space from. They terminated that contract, indicated the stolen data could not be use in any other datacenter. The risk was almost zero.

As for logs, etc., as long as you don't use the net for illegal activity, it's not a real concern. If you are using the internet for illegal activity, VPN is not sufficient security in and of itself.

I can't account for what you or Ars Technica knew about the breach or when, but many other sites reported on it at about the same time as Ars. Maybe you were advised of another one? I have no idea. As for whose fault it was? RestorePrivacy has an article about it and while the hack wasn't quite the big deal that I was under the impression of, it's not a solved case of who was at fault. NordVPN is blaming the datacenter. The datacenter is blaming NordVPN. Someone else says it may have been a disgruntled employee for one or the other. I don't know what the truth is, but it's clear these guys don't quite have their house in order. For whatever reason one uses a VPN, you are trusting your traffic and your data to them. It's less about logs to hide illegal activity, but more about what's my own business and a distaste for my ISP or whoever monitoring what I do and selling that data. But even if you don't care about that, why are you using a VPN? For security and privacy on "unsecured" networks of course out of concerns that someone is sniffing your data to grab user names and passwords. And again, you are trusting a VPN to secure that traffic. But there is literally no one's word except their own that they do what they say they do. This isn't a problem unique to NordVPN but a general problem with the industry. For me, that's not good enough. I don't take anyone's word at face value and if there isn't something more to convince me they are trustworthy, then they aren't getting my trust.

 

[skays]

Are you (Lifeisabeach), using a VPN? I occasionally travel...cruising or vacation in Europe...and take my laptop and iPhone. I don't currently use a VPN, but am thinking about it. As far as protecting passwords and such, I use 1Password to log into and out of various accounts. No keystrokes required to enter user ids/passwords. Thinking of using VPN to avoid getting tracked from sites I don't want to get trash from.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Are you (Lifeisabeach), using a VPN? I occasionally travel...cruising or vacation in Europe...and take my laptop and iPhone. I don't currently use a VPN, but am thinking about it. As far as protecting passwords and such, I use 1Password to log into and out of various accounts. No keystrokes required to enter user ids/passwords. Thinking of using VPN to avoid getting tracked from sites I don't want to get trash from.

I use Private Internet Access, but I am thinking about switching to ProtonVPN. Proton has a very strong record as advocates for privacy with their secure email service. Their vpn service is relatively new, but they opened up to a security audit and their vpn apps are now open sourced and audited as well.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Is it worth installing a VPN on a Sept. 2019 iMac running Mojave? ...

Gren, you never told us what you want a VPN for. Clearly a VPN is important if you will be doing sensitive things on an open Wi-Fi network (e.g. banking while sipping coffee in a Starbucks.) But many folks think that a VPN will protect them in ways that it won't. For instance, you have an iMac, which isn't a portable computer so you will ALWAYS be using your home or office Wi-Fi network, which is likely secured. If that is the case, you probably have no need for a VPN.

Frankly, many folks don't need a VPN, and probably shouldn't be wasting the overhead on one, or the money. Have a look at this article:

"Don’t Use a VPN at Home"
Don’t Use a VPN at Home - OneZero
"Despite what VPN commercials tell you, there’s really no reason to use a VPN at home."

There ARE other reasons why one would need a VPN, but if you can't articulate them, then you don't need a VPN to do them. ;D

 

[NSMacGuru]

FWIW, I'm a fan of Tunnelbear. They're cheeky - great sense of humour. I used their free service for years (and often took advantage of the tweet-for-free-data promotion), until my needs went beyond what the free version provided. I pay a very reasonable annual fee and it does everything I need it to do with very good performance.

I don't know if its specific to Tunnelbear or VPNs in general, but I do occasionally find websites that simply won't load with it running (even if I switch the intermediate country setting). And Netflix's anti-VPN efforts mean it can't be running when I'm viewing that site. That experience makes me wonder how folks who have a router-level VPN setup deal with such restrictions....