2nd VPN experiment

December 10th, 2005 | by Tim Wilson |

I posted recently about using HotSpotVPN to secure my wireless Internet connection while traveling. Once I had the VPN configured I started up Ethernal to see if my traffic really was encrypted. I was disappointed to find that some of my network traffic, including my .Mac email password, was still visible. I’m not sure if I misconfigured something, but clearly that’s not going to do the job.

I did some more digging and signed up for a month-long trial with PublicVPN. This service differs significantly from HotSpotVPN in that it utilizes standard VPN protocols instead of tunneling over SSL. As a result, access to the PublicVPN service may be blocked by hotel or coffee shop firewalls just when you need it most. (SSL VPNs are almost never blocked because doing so would prevent Web surfers from using secure sites for shopping, email, banking, etc.) PublicVPN works flawlessly with OS X and Windows using the built-in VPN clients. I did some more packet sniffing and all passwords appear to be encrypted. Another plus is that the PublicVPN service is cheaper at $5.95/month or $59.95/year.

OS X Internet Connect screenshot

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  1. 2 Responses to “2nd VPN experiment”

  2. By Wesley Fryer on Dec 12, 2005 | Reply

    Thanks so much for sharing your investigations into VPN and open wireless security issues, Tim. This is SO important. I used Ethernal this weekend for the first time at my in-laws house, and it is so eye opening to see what people are just giving away to anyone that is snooping if they aren’t using VPN.

  3. By Bill on Dec 27, 2005 | Reply

    Tim,

    Please give our personalVPN™ service a try. Contact me and I will provide you a test account. Works on Windows or Macintosh.

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