1/25/2017 discussion by John Stampfel
In a few workshops there has been discussion of using VPNs (Virtual Private
Networks) to provide better privacy and maybe security. This recent article
evaluating (and testing) 283 free and paid VPN services found many did
not provide what users want. Specifically, they open wide security and
privacy holes. This article on lifehacker.com started me reading a little
more.
http://lifehacker.com/researchers-issue-security-warnings-about-several-popul-1791617644
The ten with the worst VirusTotal AV ranks are:
OkVpn;
EasyVpn;
SuperVPN;
Betternet
CrossVpn;
Archie VPN;
HatVPN ;
sFly Network Booster ;
One Click VPN ;
Fast Secure Payment
The research paper itself, which has additional information has a link
at the lifehacker.com link, or is at
https://research.csiro.au/ng/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/2016/08/paper-1.pdf
Krebs on security had an article about proxies back in 2015 with similar
warnings. See
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/06/free-proxies-arent-necessarily-free/#more-31322
A comment in the Krebs article has a link to another article describing
how to build your own VPN if you REALLY need one.
John Stampfel