Tag: unblock sites

Pros and Cons of Open VPN Technology

OpenVPN

If you want to browse the Internet anonymously and simply being secured online, VPN (Virtual Private Network) is without a doubt the best choice. As compared to other methods, VPN offers encrypted web traffic which protects you from undesirable third party. However, there are many types of VPN, and Open VPN is only one of them.

In layman’s term, Open VPN is an open source software application that provides secured virtual connection between two computers at different locations. To achieve secured connection, it uses the OpenSSL encryption library along with other strong security features. Despite being fairly new, it is one of the most preferred VPN protocol.

But before you decide to use it to secure your Internet connection, below are some of the major advantages and disadvantages of Open VPN.

 pros-and-cons

Pros of Open VPN:

 Strong encryption

Open VPN is known for having a strong encryption, which is considerably better against the NSA (National Security Agency). The OpenSSL encryption library supports a number of cryptographic algorithms including the AES which is known for almost no weakness at all.

 Highly reliable

 Besides being secured, Open VPN is highly reliable, thanks to its capability of allowing for repair or reconfiguration even if the network is down. This means that no drop of packets which means no data will be lost once there is a corruption during the communication.

Works with DD-WRT routers

 This is a great advantage if you want to run your local network on a single VPN account. To be able to achieve this, you will need a DD-WRT supporting router. Thiif done correctly, this free Linux-based firmware upgrade allows you to share a single VPN connection.

 Great community support

 This is pretty obvious because of the extreme popularity of Open VPN. And because it is an open source application, it can be easily be modified. This is why you can easily get support from other users around the globe. And yes, it is very much applicable to mobile phones.

We can recommend a great Open VPN for Android – Spider VPN.

 Cons of Open VPN

 Software required

You will need third party software before you can use Open VPN. You will need it for the authentication of the VPN server. If you are not a techie guy, this might be a problem to you. Although it is pretty easy to install, you might find it complicated to use if you are a beginner.

Possibility of High Latency

In terms of Internet, latency is the time delay of the response in the network, and is therefore a waste of time and can be annoying if you playing online games. And because of the high load in Open VPN, you might encounter this problem depending on your location of your access.

There are other disadvantages of Open VPN, but they are considerably minor. For example, it is quite slower than PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) and L2TP/IPSec. Some user also note that Open VPN for desktop computers is better than for mobile devices. However, if you are really concern with security and reliability, then you should choose Open VPN.

 

Original: http://sahrzad.net/blog/pros-and-cons-of-open-vpn-technology/

How to Unblock Websites on Android Devices Best Tips 2015

Android vpn

Without a doubt, the number of smartphone users will continue to increase as time goes by. But still, there are tons of restricted websites, no matter what kind of  device you are using. There are actually different ways to unblock websites; but so far, VPN (Virtual Private Network) is still the best way.

First of all, many offices and schools block websites not only to remove all the distractions at work, but also to control young students from inappropriate content. There are also some countries, particularly in the Middle East that implement very strict Internet censorship. But sometimes, you need to access some restricted websites.

Just like proxy sites, VPN will assign a new IP address for you, hiding your real IP address and geo-location as well. Therefore, you can now browse the Internet anonymously. But with VPN, your data is well-protected because of encryption. This means that almost no third party can intercept your web traffic, even if you are using your smartphone in a public Wi-Fi zone.

If you are an Android device user, there are tons of VPN apps at Google Play Store to choose from. You can easily download the one you like, and the procedures are very easy to follow.  In fact, it can be done within a few minutes only. You will be given choices of web browser and country of origin. And yes, you can choose any country available in the list.

In case you don’t know, Android has a built-in VPN client – PPTP, L2TP/IPsec VPN and Open VPN security protocols. However, PPTP is not stable and least secured. On the other hand, PPTP and L2TP/IPsec VPN are both complicated and may require you to download third party software. This is why you can choose external VPNs.

But while using VPN for Android devices is pretty easy, the hardest part is how to choose which of them are the most applicable to you. To start with, identify the activities you will do while using a VPN. If you will play online games, you will need a tougher VPN to minimize lagging (or the slow response from the server) which is very annoying.

There are also VPNs that offer unlimited bandwidth which are very tempting. However,  you might need to pay additional cost for the bandwidth that you will not use. Avoid also the VPN service providers that keep logs; this can be dangerous because you are not totally secured and the Internet police in strict countries might find you.

You might also be tempted in using free VPNs instead of the paid ones. Obviously, you can save money from using these free services. But if you are really serious in using VPN, investing a small amount money is a better choice. With a paid VPN, you will not be distracted by tons of ridiculous advertisements that will appear everywhere.

In addition, you can be sure of faster response from their customer service and technical support them, simply because you paid for them. Many premium VPN service providers offer various types of security protocols as compared to the free ones. Not to mention, paid VPNs offer faster Internet connection because free VPNs are not obliged to invest in bandwidth.

From Sahrzad’s Blog: http://sahrzad.net/blog/how-to-unblock-websites-on-android-devices-best-tips-2015/

5 Advantages of OpenVPN (Spider VPN)

Advantages of Open VPN

VPN (Virtual Private Network) has been proven to be the best way to browse the web anonymously. Besides being flexible, it is by far more secured than other similar technologies. With VPN, web traffic is encrypted which means no third party can easily intercept your data. Mobile users are protected when they are in a public Wi-Fi zone or a in a country with strict Internet policies. VPN offers different security protocols to choose from, and Open VPN is one of them. Here are some of its notable advantages:

1. Very easy to install and use

Released in 2002, this OpenVPN open-source software is very easy install and use. You can install it on a server and client on any platform (such as Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and others) without restrictions. OpenVPN server waits until a client submits a request for connection, and the client establishes the connection according to the given configuration. Despite requiring you to download and setup additional configuration files, it does not come as a burden as there are tons of tutorials available.

2. Offers high level of security

OpenVPN offers various security features as such as peer authentication, digital certifications, and very strong encryption standards. It uses security protocols from the OpenSSL encryption library and SSL v3/TLS v1 protocol. The cryptographic algorithms (e.g. AES, Blowfish, 3DES, CAST-128, etc) being used are known to have no serious security issues from any party, including the NSA (National Security Agency). The 128-bit Blowfish is OpenVPN’s default cipher, but the newer AES provides more security.

 3. Highly configurable and flexible

 OpenVPN is highly configurable as compared to other security protocols. It can be set to run on any port, but is known to run best at TCP port 443. This makes OpenVPN traffic harder to distinguish and block as compared to the traffic from the HTTPS websites. During connection set up, OpenVPN also offers numerous points making it very flexible to all kinds of users. Connections can be tunneled through almost every available proxy and firewall, thus providing additional protection for field workers.

4. Great community support

OpenVPN requires you to download a third party app, but support from the community is great. Due to its popularity, it has already acquired a huge amount of fans all over the world. Not to mention, OpenVPN network can be connected on mobile devices and works well on various operating software such as Apple’s iOS and Android. And because it is an open source, source code is readily available and is free for modification. In short, receiving support is never a problem for OpenVPN users.

 5. Highly reliable

With OpenVPN, there is no data loss even if the system goes down. Instead, the network stops so that repair and reconfiguration can be done immediately. This feature also serves as an additional security measure. OpenVPN is also considered as the most stable and reliable VPN protocol on wireless routers, non-reliable networks, as well as on Wi-Fi zones. When it comes to speed, it is notably fast even on far distances and connections with high latency. This is why many VPN providers are offering it.