Don’t install ‘free’ VPNsCOVER
FEATURE2 - 15 October 2019 43A paid-for VPN
The truth of th e matter is that
if you want a secure and
speedy VPNservice, you’ll needto pay
for it. Of course, not all paid-for VPNs
are created equal. Check to see how
many devices you can use the VPNon
(five is fairly standard), as well as the
numberof servers and countries on
offer – the more there are, the faster
the service should be.
The VPNshould also use OpenVPN,
IKEv2, IPSec, L2TP or OpenSSH
encryption, and give you unlimited
traffic. It should also include a kill
switch, which detects when your VPN
connection drops and immediately ends
all online activity so that your real
IP address doesn’ t get exposed
accidentally. Otherfeatures to look out
for are a no-loggingpolicy, P2P suppor t
(for torrenting and the like) and a
decent money-back guarantee. Paid -for
VPNs should also provide good
customer service suppor t – something
you’re unlikely to get with the free ones.
Many paid-for VPNs offer a free trial
(not just a free version), so you can take
it fo r a spin and test it prop erly before
committing to a subscription. The
leng th of the trial can vary massively,
from one day to 30 days.
Our favourite paid-for VPNs are
NordVPN (nordvpn.com), ExpressVPN
(www.expressvpn.com) and CyberGhost
(www.cyberghostvpn.com), but bearin
mind that each paid-for VPN has its own
pros and cons, depending on your
personalneeds, so you should carry out
your own research before signingup.Tor
The Tor network safeguar ds
your browsing by disguising
your location. It works by routing your
traffic through a numberof Tor servers
aroundthe world. The main di fferen ce
between Tor and a VPNis that there’s
no single entity you needto trust. Tor is
a non-profit orga nisation, rather than a
company that might prioritise its profits
over your privacy, and the network is
run by thousands of volunteers.
The best way to use the Tor network
is via the Tor Browser (www.torpr oject
.org), which is available for Windows,
macOS, Linux and Android, and is based
on the sameengine as Mozilla Firefox.
It protects your browsing by relaying
and encrypting your traffic across thre e
Tor relays aroundthe world. You canrequest a new ‘c ircuit’ for any site at any
time, should you wish to.
The browser also comes with a
numberof privacy-focused add-ons and
disables risky plugins, such as Flash.
You can even tweak the browser’s
securi ty level by choosing from thre e
options: Standard, Safer and Safest.
Tor isn’t designed to protect
downloading via BitTorrent, however,
and the organisation does request that
you don’t use the network for this
purpose.
If you want even more securi ty, you
can use Tor in conjun ction with a VPN.
However, be warned that although this
will boost your anonymity significantly ,
it wi ll also dramatically slow your
browsing speed.Tails
If your main concern is privacy,
then Tails (tails.boum.org)
offers peac e of mind. The Amnesiac
Incognito Live
System (to give it
its full name) is a
privacy-focused
live Linux
operating system
that you can boot
into from a DVD,
USB memory stick
or SD card. It runs outside your main
operating system, and all connections
to the internet are forced to go through
the Tor network – it even comes with the
Tor Browser included. Tails doesn’ t
leave any trace of your activity behind
once you shut it down (unles s you ask itWHAT YOU SHOULD USE INSTEAD1The first timeyou runTor Browser,
you’re offered two options –you
can eitherconnectstraightto theTor
network using the default settings,^1
or clickConfigure^2 if you use a proxy
to connectto the internet or ifyou’re
browsing in acountry whereTor is
censored.2Once theconnection is madeto Tor,
the browser opens.You can enter the
address of a siteto visit or searchfor
something using the privacy-focused
DuckDuckGo search engine.^1 If you’re
newto Tor Browser,you can click the
button^2 in thetop-leftcornerto see
how it allworks.3Click the Onion button^1 in the
top-rightcornerto get a new
browsing identity (the browser will
close andreopen). Clicking the Shield
button^2 letsyou changeyour current
security level, while the three-line
menu button^3 provides the option of
a newTor circuitfor the current site.^4MINIWORKSHOP|Browse securely with Tor Browser1 221341 2