WEBVTT 00:00.660 --> 00:01.440 So far. 00:01.440 --> 00:07.710 I mentioned the word VPN in a number of lectures, but I never really explained what it is. 00:08.280 --> 00:15.570 So in this lecture I'm going to explain what a VPN is, how it works, and how we can use it to bypass 00:15.570 --> 00:20.250 censorship and protect our privacy, anonymity and security. 00:21.230 --> 00:28.250 So VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and to understand how it works, let's first have a look 00:28.250 --> 00:34.770 on a normal scenario where we have a user trying to access Google.com, as we mentioned before. 00:34.790 --> 00:40.550 Usually this traffic is sent unencrypted unless Google or the website they're trying to access uses 00:40.550 --> 00:41.360 encryption. 00:41.900 --> 00:46.880 And like we said, this traffic passes through a number of routers, it passes through your Internet 00:46.880 --> 00:48.650 service provider and so on. 00:48.650 --> 00:54.260 And all of these stops can see the data that you're sending and manipulate it, profile you, gather 00:54.260 --> 00:56.390 information about you, and so on. 00:56.960 --> 01:05.030 Now if you use a VPN, you will first connect to the VPN server, which you can think of as a computer 01:05.030 --> 01:09.080 that exists on the Internet, on the cloud, with really good resources. 01:09.080 --> 01:15.890 And what happens is you create an encrypted tunnel, an encrypted connection with this computer. 01:16.160 --> 01:23.090 So whenever you want to access anything on the Internet, you send that first to this computer. 01:23.090 --> 01:25.930 But the request is sent encrypted. 01:25.940 --> 01:31.910 Hence, I used a green arrow in here to indicate that the data sent is encrypted. 01:32.240 --> 01:38.570 So whenever you want to access something, both you and the VPN server will be able to read this data 01:38.570 --> 01:39.800 and understand it. 01:39.800 --> 01:45.680 But if anybody intercepts this data, whether it's your Internet service provider, whether it's your 01:45.680 --> 01:51.500 network admin, whether it's a hacker, they will not be able to read this data or manipulate it or 01:51.500 --> 01:54.350 profile you because this data will be encrypted. 01:54.350 --> 01:55.630 It will be gibberish. 01:56.330 --> 02:02.720 Then once the VPN receives the data, once it sees, for example, you want to go to Google.com, it 02:02.720 --> 02:07.730 will simply forward that request to Google and then the response will follow a similar path. 02:08.600 --> 02:13.160 Again, keep in mind traffic leaving the VPN will be unencrypted. 02:13.160 --> 02:19.310 It will only be encrypted if the service that you're connecting to uses encryption hence are used a 02:19.310 --> 02:20.810 red arrow in this case. 02:21.470 --> 02:29.000 Now you can also use a VPN and connect to the Tor network, so you'll first connect to your VPN again. 02:29.000 --> 02:35.120 Green Arrow means your traffic is encrypted and then it leaves your VPN connecting to the Tor network. 02:35.120 --> 02:41.630 And then you can either access an onion service or go to Google or any other website on the clear net. 02:42.380 --> 02:50.480 Now this architecture of first creating a secure tunnel and connecting to a server and then go to the 02:50.480 --> 02:57.380 internet or to the Tor network or to whatever service is really, really useful because first of all, 02:57.380 --> 02:59.990 it adds an extra layer of encryption. 03:00.410 --> 03:06.200 This means that it's going to improve our privacy and anonymity because it will prevent anybody that 03:06.200 --> 03:10.040 intercepts this connection, that intercepts this flow of data. 03:10.040 --> 03:15.680 And here, from seeing what data you're sending or receiving, again, whether it's your network admin, 03:15.680 --> 03:19.760 whether it's your Internet provider, whether it's a government, it doesn't really matter. 03:19.760 --> 03:22.010 Your data in here is going to be encrypted. 03:22.010 --> 03:26.570 Therefore, it will be useless to any entity that intercepts it. 03:26.990 --> 03:29.450 It will also help us bypass censorship. 03:29.450 --> 03:35.570 So we see previously that we can use pluggable transports and bridges in order to bypass censorship 03:35.570 --> 03:37.160 and connect to the Tor network. 03:37.160 --> 03:41.630 Even if it's being blocked by your network admin or by your internet provider. 03:42.140 --> 03:49.220 A better solution, in my opinion, is to simply use a VPN, because let's assume we have an internet 03:49.220 --> 03:54.080 service provider in here that doesn't allow the users to access tor. 03:54.260 --> 04:02.180 When you use a VPN again, you're creating a secure, encrypted tunnel between you and the VPN provider. 04:02.180 --> 04:07.940 So the internet service provider cannot see that you're trying to connect to Tor. 04:07.970 --> 04:12.860 All it can see is encrypted data going to some server on the internet. 04:13.460 --> 04:20.000 Therefore, in the case of the pluggable transports and bridges, in worst case scenario, the Internet 04:20.000 --> 04:26.030 service provider or the admin or the government will be able to see that you are trying to connect to 04:26.030 --> 04:29.060 TOR, which could cause problems in some countries. 04:29.510 --> 04:36.410 In the case of using a VPN, the worst case scenario is your internet service provider will be able 04:36.410 --> 04:39.260 to know that you're trying to connect to a VPN. 04:39.260 --> 04:40.010 That's it. 04:40.010 --> 04:45.830 They won't know that you're trying to use Tor and they won't be able to see any data you send because 04:45.830 --> 04:51.410 like I said, the connection is encrypted and hence the use of the green arrows in here. 04:52.620 --> 05:00.150 On top of all of these features using a VPN protect us from hackers because it is very easy for anyone 05:00.150 --> 05:06.930 connected to the same network as you to intercept your data, to redirect the flow of data so that it 05:06.930 --> 05:08.700 flows through their computer. 05:08.730 --> 05:13.350 I actually covered this in my network hacking and in my ethical hacking courses. 05:13.800 --> 05:19.920 So whether you're connected to a public network such as an airport network or a hotel or a college network 05:19.920 --> 05:27.300 or even at your own home network, anybody connected to that network can redirect the flow of data so 05:27.300 --> 05:29.250 that it flows through their computer. 05:29.250 --> 05:34.680 And once they do this, they'll be able to see all the websites you visit, all the usernames and passwords 05:34.680 --> 05:35.470 you send. 05:35.490 --> 05:43.020 They'll even be able to modify data on the fly and backdoor files you download and in many cases even 05:43.020 --> 05:45.570 gain full control over your computer. 05:46.390 --> 05:52.840 Now, if a VPN is used, the hacker will still be able to redirect the flow of data, and they will 05:52.840 --> 05:55.210 still be able to intercept your data. 05:55.330 --> 05:59.980 But this data again will be encrypted, hence the use of the green arrows. 05:59.980 --> 06:04.150 So they won't be able to see the usernames or the passwords or anything. 06:04.150 --> 06:10.060 And even if they try to modify this data, they wouldn't be able to do it because it will be simply 06:10.060 --> 06:14.500 gibberish and they wouldn't be able to analyze it or do anything with it. 06:15.160 --> 06:21.220 That's why using a VPN is a really good solution to prevent man in the middle attacks. 06:22.420 --> 06:28.600 With that being said, there is a number of things that you need to keep in mind when using a VPN. 06:29.200 --> 06:33.700 First of all, we are introducing a man in the middle in here. 06:33.700 --> 06:39.490 So if we go back to the previous diagram, you can see that our connection was going directly to the 06:39.490 --> 06:40.240 Internet. 06:40.420 --> 06:46.510 But when we're using a VPN, we're literally adding an extra node to our connection. 06:46.510 --> 06:53.710 So the data is encrypted between the user and the VPN provider, but the VPN provider is able to see 06:53.710 --> 06:54.580 this data. 06:54.700 --> 07:01.720 Therefore, you want to make sure that you pick a reputable VPN provider and avoid free providers because 07:01.720 --> 07:04.540 a lot of them keep logs and analyze you. 07:04.870 --> 07:09.070 You also want to make sure that you use a provider that keeps no logs. 07:09.070 --> 07:14.740 And with keeping all of these things in mind, with picking a reputable provider, avoid free ones and 07:14.740 --> 07:16.450 make sure that they keep no logs. 07:16.480 --> 07:19.590 Also use HTTPS everywhere. 07:19.600 --> 07:25.450 This really solves the problem of having a VPN here, even if you trust them, even if you think this 07:25.450 --> 07:32.290 company will never do anything bad, will never keep logs and analyze your traffic when you use https 07:32.290 --> 07:39.700 everywhere, you're adding another layer of encryption so your connection between you and the VPN provider 07:39.700 --> 07:42.340 will be secured by two layers of encryption. 07:42.340 --> 07:50.440 First, the encryption used by the VPN and the encryption enforced by HTTPS everywhere, which is TLS. 07:51.010 --> 07:58.750 And then when traffic leaves the VPN provider, you will have TLS encryption up to whatever destination 07:58.750 --> 07:59.800 you're going to. 07:59.830 --> 08:06.820 Therefore, even the VPN provider in this case will not be able to see your data because it will be 08:06.820 --> 08:11.140 encrypted with TLS, which is a very, very secure encryption. 08:11.980 --> 08:17.800 Last but not least, when signing up with a VPN, you want to make sure you use a VPN that does not 08:17.800 --> 08:20.660 require a lot of information again, at the end of the day. 08:20.680 --> 08:25.840 We're trying to improve our privacy and it doesn't really make sense to give them my address and all 08:25.840 --> 08:26.920 this information. 08:27.340 --> 08:32.250 You can also take this one step further and pay with crypto, but this is optional. 08:32.260 --> 08:35.170 It really depends on you and your threat model. 08:36.600 --> 08:39.580 Now there are a lot of BPM providers out there. 08:39.600 --> 08:42.690 I highly recommend you go and do your own research. 08:42.720 --> 08:50.160 Me personally, I use our own VPN that we provide added security, which you can get at zealous VPN. 08:50.940 --> 08:54.870 So I have the website already here and I'm already at the download section. 08:55.230 --> 08:59.250 It supports all platforms so you can use it on Windows or Linux. 08:59.250 --> 09:01.560 iOS and Android doesn't really matter. 09:02.070 --> 09:06.180 And using these VPN providers is actually very, very simple. 09:06.210 --> 09:10.860 All you'll have to do is, first of all, obviously sign up with the one that you want, download their 09:10.860 --> 09:16.440 client, and once you have the client downloaded, you simply want to select a server and connect to 09:16.440 --> 09:16.890 it. 09:17.160 --> 09:22.800 So I already have the client downloaded and installed and I'm simply going to connect to the Australia 09:22.800 --> 09:23.640 server. 09:24.780 --> 09:28.200 And right now as you can see, my location changed to Australia. 09:28.200 --> 09:34.320 So the websites that I visit will think that I am visiting them from Australia because going back to 09:34.320 --> 09:39.420 this diagram I connect it to a VPN server that is in Australia. 09:39.630 --> 09:46.280 So anything I send will be leaving this server and therefore I'll appear like I'm coming from this country. 09:46.290 --> 09:49.440 So that's another benefit of using a VPN. 09:49.680 --> 09:56.190 You can change your location and access websites or content that is only available for a certain country 09:56.190 --> 10:00.240 by simply connecting to a VPN that is in that country. 10:00.450 --> 10:04.950 So now that I'm connected, we can see that it's saying here Australia, we can double check on the 10:04.950 --> 10:05.820 website itself. 10:05.820 --> 10:11.670 If I refresh it here, you'll see this bar will tell me that I am protected by that VPN. 10:11.670 --> 10:18.090 My IP appears to be this one, which is not my real IP and I seem like I'm coming from Australia, so 10:18.090 --> 10:19.080 that's perfect. 10:19.170 --> 10:26.190 And now that we are connected to the VPN, we can go ahead and use the internet normally and will appear 10:26.190 --> 10:33.840 like we're visiting these websites from Australia or you can use your Tor browser and this way we'll 10:33.840 --> 10:40.020 connect to the Tor network from the VPN server that is in Australia and then bounce through another 10:40.020 --> 10:46.290 three nodes and then access the website that we want or access to our hidden services. 10:46.440 --> 10:52.650 So we can just go to check the Tor project dot org to confirm that we're connected to the Tor network 10:52.650 --> 10:53.430 properly. 10:53.430 --> 10:55.140 And as you can see, that's perfect. 10:55.140 --> 10:56.460 We're connected to it. 10:56.490 --> 11:00.750 This is the IP, this is the end IP, the IP of the exit node. 11:00.750 --> 11:05.130 And we can even click on the AI here to see the nodes we're bouncing through. 11:05.130 --> 11:12.150 So what's happening right now is we have an encrypted connection from my computer to a VPN server in 11:12.150 --> 11:18.780 Australia and then from there we're connecting to the Netherlands, to Germany to the United States, 11:18.780 --> 11:23.880 and then we access the Tor project website or whatever website we want.