VPNs – Choose wisely

First the explanation

A Virtual Private Network is effectively an encrypted ‘tunnel’ between your device (which can be your desk computer at home, your mobile, laptop or tablet) and another computer, such as your corporate VPN server. This gives you protected, secure access to your corporate network. A casual observer looking at the traffic between the device and the server will only see encrypted VPN data, and will be hard pressed to distinguish between the different data types.  However, there are a number of technical papers available regarding VPN analysis and how the flow of the traffic give clues as to the type of data being carried. For example, voice traffic usually flows one way then the other as people hold a conversation.

How it helps

Use of a VPN has pros and cons: it may alert eavesdroppers to the fact that you are trying to cover your tracks, so for those with the type of job where they are likely to be under surveillance from a nation state, staying below the radar by using a VPN as an extra level of security, is very much about choosing the right VPN. Some unfriendly nation states try to ban the use of VPNs for this very reason.

What a VPN can do is provide obfuscation, by using a VPN that a lot of other people use. For example, if you are near a University and you use the same type of VPN as the students or staff, your traffic will hopefully be lost in the general melee of University life.  The VPN encryption means the network operator cannot see that you have made a call, or the number you dialed; therefore, calls to certain numbers (known Government department numbers, for example) that might be monitored, will not attract unwanted attention. By using a VPN, the call is hidden from plain view, and even the fact that you are using Armour Mobile to protect your communications end-to-end is hidden.

Conversely, if you use a specialist or unusual VPN, that could well alert eavesdroppers to the fact that there is something worth listening to.  So choose your VPN wisely!