Do you use ExpressVPN? You might want to think twice ...

[B. Diddy]

Read this very detailed and concerning story: https://www.zdnet.com/article/trust...vpns-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week/

 

[jope28]

Thanks for the link.

I use a different VPN provider, but that is always a risk and need to go into it knowing that all you're doing is trusting one entity over another when you connect to your VPN.

The author of that piece really tries hard to knock Snowden.
That's where I realized that the author is not one to take 100% seriously though.
But he did provide good info, aside from his detour to try to connect Snowden with the equivalent of "he knows a friend of a friend", so he's the devil.

 

[B. Diddy]

Well, he did mention that Snowden recommended against using ExpressVPN, so it's not like he was discounting his opinion. But based on all of the other information, that seems fairly peripheral. The central concern is who is acquiring ExpressVPN and what their history is. It'd be like Cheetah Mobile purchasing NordVPN.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Thanks for sharing that article. I don't use ExpressVPN, but that is helpful to members who do use it. It would be a good idea to use a different VPN.

 

[anon(10766205)]

I use Express. I'm a bit concerned about this. Any suggestions on a replacement for Express?

 

[B. Diddy]

I rarely use VPNs, but my wife does when on a public wi-fi network and doing anything work-related, so I got a NordVPN subscription. They've generally had a good record, although there was an incident where an expired internal private key was exposed: https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/21/n...t NordVPN,their own servers imitating NordVPN. Still, that's better than being bought by a less-than-savory company.

 

[BerryBubbles]

(Snipped quote)

It'd be like Cheetah Mobile purchasing NordVPN.

Good analogy!

That would convince me run to a different solution.

 

[stevenjb2020]

Use an Open Source VPN

 

[EnthalpiousKitten]

I use ProtonVPN. There was a scandal recently with ProtonMail so I am a tad concerned. Not to brag or anything but in my spare time I'm a hefty cybersecurity enthusiast and a bit of a white hat hacker, and I can with utmost certainty say that if you MUST hide something from prying eyes at all costs, just use Tor. Tor is hands down one of the most secure ways to look at stuff online. VPNs are not much more trustworthy than your ISP, they're just a tad bit more relaxed on rule enforcement. They are best for hiding stuff from your ISP or local network admins (or those cafe based WiFi hackers), but if you do something that attracts too much attention you can still be found out and traced in a gazillion ways and will be no more secure in that case than an ISP. Also, givernemnts in the VPN countries can do what they want even if you are clean. You never know. VPNs are the cyber version of a back alley guy promising you a pay-to-use method for doing shady stuff with legal immunity.

 

[jope28]

I use ProtonVPN. There was a scandal recently with ProtonMail so I am a tad concerned. Not to brag or anything but in my spare time I'm a hefty cybersecurity enthusiast and a bit of a white hat hacker, and I can with utmost certainty say that if you MUST hide something from prying eyes at all costs, just use Tor. Tor is hands down one of the most secure ways to look at stuff online. VPNs are not much more trustworthy than your ISP, they're just a tad bit more relaxed on rule enforcement. They are best for hiding stuff from your ISP or local network admins (or those cafe based WiFi hackers), but if you do something that attracts too much attention you can still be found out and traced in a gazillion ways and will be no more secure in that case than an ISP. Also, givernemnts in the VPN countries can do what they want even if you are clean. You never know. VPNs are the cyber version of a back alley guy promising you a pay-to-use method for doing shady stuff with legal immunity.

Agreed.
I use a VPN to hide stuff from my ISP or local network I might be using at the moment.

But to hide stuff from government/law enforcement, the answer isn't simply a commercial VPN.