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VPN - The in depth guide by Leyton Harrington!

Intro

You may know what a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is; but you probably don't use one. You really should be using a VPN, and even if you don't think so now, at some point in the future you may consider it as important as your internet connection. There are so many VPN providers that it's difficult to choose a really good one. VPNs are not all created equally, and in this post, we're (me and you) going to look at what a VPN is, why you want one, and how to pick the best one for you. Let's get started.

What Is a VPN?

Put simply, a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, is a group of computers (or discrete networks) networked together over a public network—namely, the internet. Businesses use VPNs to connect remote datacenters, and individuals can use VPNs to get access to network resources when they're not physically on the same LAN (local area network), or as a method for securing and encrypting their communications when they're using an untrusted public network. 

When you connect to a VPN, you usually launch a VPN client on your computer (or click a link on a special website), log in with your credentials, and your computer exchanges trusted keys with a far away server. Once both computers have verified each other as authentic, all of your internet communication is encrypted and secured from eavesdropping. The most important thing you need to know about a VPN: It secures your computer's internet connection to guarantee that all of the data you're sending and receiving is encrypted and secured from prying eyes. Whether the VPNs you're familiar with are the ones offered by your school or business to help you work or stay connected when you're traveling or the ones you pay to get you watch your favorite shows in another country as they air, they're all doing the same thing. For much more detail on what VPNs are, how they work, and how they're used, check out this How Stuff Works article. Why You Need a VPN, or How You Can Benefit from Using One A VPN alone is just a way to bolster your security and access resources on a network you're not physically connected to. What you choose to do with a VPN is a different story. Usually, VPN users fall into a few separate categories:

The student/worker. This person has responsibilities to attend to, and uses a VPN provided by their school or company to access resources on their network when they're at home or traveling. In most cases, this person already has a free VPN service provided to them, so they're not exactly shopping around. Also, if they're worried about security, they can always fire up their VPN when using airport or cafe WI-Fi to ensure no one's snooping on their connection. 

The downloader. Whether they're downloading legally or illegally, this person doesn't want on some company's witch-hunt list just because they have a torrenting app installed on their computer. VPNs are the only way to stay safe when using something like BitTorrent—everything else is a false sense of security. Better safe than trying to defend yourself in court or paying a massive fine for something you may or may not have even done, right?

The privacy minded and security advocate. Whether they're a in a strictly monitored environment or a completely free and open one, this person uses VPN services to keep their communications secure and encrypted and away from prying eyes whether they're at home or abroad. To them, unsecured connections mean someone's reading what you say.

Some combination of the above. Odds are, even if you're not one of these people more often than not, you're some mix of them depending on what you're doing. In all of these cases, a VPN service can be helpful, whether it's just a matter of protecting yourself when you're out and about, whether you handle sensitive data for your job and don't want to get fired, or you're just covering your own ass from the MPAA.

Even if none of the above really sound right to you, you can still benefit from using a VPN. You should definitely use one when you travel or work on an untrusted network (read: a network you don't own, manage, or trust who manages.) That means opening your laptop at the coffee shop and logging into Facebook or using your phone's Wi-Fi to check your email at the airport can all put you and your data at risk. What Makes for a Good VPN? The best VPNs offer a solid balance of features, server location, connectivity protocols, and price. Some are great for occasional use, others are geared towards getting around the location restrictions companies put on their apps and services, and others are targeted at people who do heavy downloading and want a little privacy while they do it. Here's what you should look for.

Protocol: When you're researching a VPN, you'll see terms like SSL/TLS (sometimes referred to as OpenVPN support,) PPTP, IPSec, L2TP, and other VPN types. I asked Samara Lynn, Lead Analyst for Networking and Small Business at PCMag, whether or not a user shopping for a VPN should shop for one over another. "SSL is what is commonly used these days. All of these protocols will provide a secure connection," she explained, and pointed out that most solutions are invisible to the end-user anyway. Strictly, each protocol has its benefits and drawbacks, and if you're concerned about this (specifically, PPTP vulnerabilities,) you're probably already aware of them. Most users don't need to be concerned about this—corporate users on the other hand, are probably all using IPSec or SSL clients anyway.

Corporate and Exit Locations: Depending on what you're using a VPN for, your service's location—and the exit locations you can choose—are important to consider. If you want to get around a location restriction and watch live TV in the UK, for example, you want to make sure your VPN service provider has servers in the UK. If you're concerned about privacy or state-sponsored snooping, you may want to pick a service operated outside of your home country. Similarly, if the service is based on the US, they're subject to US laws, and may be forced to turn over usage data to the authorities upon request. Many people make more of this than they should (I've seen overseas services turn over their data to friendly governments without any hesitation repeatedly), but it's important to make sure a VPN has servers in multiple locations—or at least the location you're interested in—when shopping.

Logging: When you connect to a VPN, you're trusting the VPN service provider with your data. Your communications may be secure from eavesdropping, but other systems on the same VPN—especially the operator—can log your data if they choose. If this bothers you (e.g., you're the privacy/security advocate or the downloader), make absolutely sure you know your provider's logging policies before signing up. This applies to location as well—if your company doesn't keep logs, it may not matter as much where it's located. (There's a popular rumor that US-based VPN providers are required to log, in case the government wants them. This isn't true, but the government can always request whatever data they have if they do log.) For a good list of VPN providers that don't log your activities when connected (and many that do), check out this TorrentFreak article.

Anti-Malware/Anti-Spyware Features: Using a VPN doesn't mean you're invulnerable. You should still make sure you're using HTTPS whenever possible, and you should still be careful about what you download. Some VPN service providers—especially mobile ones—bundle their clients with anti-malware scanners to make sure you're not downloading viruses or trojans. When you're shopping, see if the providers you're interested in offer anti-malware protection while you're connected. For example, previously mentioned Hotspot Shield offers malware protection to its premium users. It may not be a dealbreaker for you, but it's always good to have someone watching your back.

Mobile Apps: If you're going to spend money on a VPN service provider (or even if you use a free one, frankly), you should be able to get a consistent experience across all of your devices. Most prominent providers offer desktop and mobile solutions for individual users, and while corporate and school networks may be a bit behind the curve here, they're catching up too. Make sure you don't have to use two different VPNs with two different policies and agreements just because you want to secure your phone along with your laptop.

Price: Finally, go into your user agreement with both eyes open. You should read the privacy policy for the service you're interested in, and be very aware of the differences between free and paid services. For example:

Free VPN Providers are more likely to log your activities and serve contextual ads while you're connected. They're also more likely to use your usage habits to tailor future ads to you, have fewer exit locations, and weak commitments to privacy. They may offer great features, but if logging and privacy are important to you, you may want to avoid them. However, if you just need quick, painless security while traveling on a budget, they're a great option.

Subscription VPN Providers usually take your privacy a bit more seriously, since you're paying for the service. It's unusual for them to show ads, although whether they do logging or store data about your usage varies from company to company. They usually offer free trials so you can give the service a shot first, but remember: just because you're paying for a service doesn't mean you shouldn't do your homework.

A mix of features and price make a good VPN, but plenty of bad VPNs masquerade as good ones. Look for articles written by trustworthy sources that discuss the merits of each service based on its features, versus simple rundowns and user testimonials, which are almost always polluted by a combination of fanatical users and corporate bootstrapping in attempt to get their names out to potential customers.

proXPN Supports: Windows, OS X, iOS Protocols: SSL, PPTP. Home Country: United States, with exit servers in the US, The Netherlands, Singapore, and the UK. Logging Policies: proXPN keeps minimal logs of your activity. proXPN collects your email address, payment information (if you're a premium user,) bandwidth usage, connection duration, and login/logout times. They've committed to only keeping those logs for 14 days or less, and promise to never share their logs with anyone, period.

Price: proXPN has a free plan, which limits your transfer speeds to 300kpbs and restricts you to one exit location (Miami) in the United States. Premium accounts unlock support for PPTP (if you want to connect a mobile device or a router,) remove the transfer cap, and allows you to choose from any of the company's other exit locations. Premium plans start at $10/mo, and you can read more about their pricing and plans here.

TorVPN Supports: Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android Protocols: SSL (they often refer to it as OpenVPN), PPTP, and full SSH tunneling. Home Country: Hungary, with exit servers in Hungary. Logging Policies: The service doesn't log your connection aside from bandwidth usage to compare against your quota, and your payment details. They also are committed to your privacy, and specifically say they won't surrender their data without a Hungarian court order. Price: Free TorVPN users are limited to 1GB/mo downloaded before they're cut off, and Premium accounts start at 5 EUR/mo ($7mo) for 5GB/mo and go up to 30 EUR/mo ($38/mo) for 100GB. Keep in mind they have a no-refunds policy, and that even though you ride the Tor network, they're a separate entity from the Tor Project. You can read more about their pricing and plans here.

TorGuard Supports: Windows, OS X, Linux, and iOS and Android via built-in VPN Protocols: SSL (OpenVPN), PPTP, and L2TP, (with 256 bit security) Home Country: Panama, with exit servers in The Netherlands, Romania, Ukraine and Panama. Logging Policies: TorGuard wholeheartedly supports privacy, so you can feel a bit more secure that your connection is secure and anonymous. They purge their logs daily, and only keep payment information and registration info. They don't even keep login/logout times. Price: Depending on whether you're the privacy advocate, the downloader, or a combination of the two, TorGuard offers plans specifically for anonymity (starting at $6/mo), for torrenting (starting at $5/mo), or for overall VPN services ($10/mo). You can read more about TorGuard's pricing and plans here.

Both of these options put control in your hands, and while they're not quite as anonymous as subscription methods or offer international exit locations, they do give you the the most important benefits of a VPN: security, privacy, and anonymity while you're away from home.

If you enjoyed or learned something from this post feel free to check out my website and my dribbble. Catch my next post about keyloggers on Thursday!  - Leyton Harrington

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Web Security For The Everyday User!

Part 1) VPN - Having a free or paid VPN is usually extremely helpful if you work with private (personal) data a lot & are traveling or using hotel or airport hotspots frequently. For those that don’t know VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, which sends your data through the provider’s private server and then through your wifi network, so nobody can spy on your data. Basically, you can even use a VPN to hide your location, ip, and data transferred online, cool!

One VPN service I would recommend is Total VPN (https://www.totalvpn.com/). They offer a free version with limited bandwidth and 3 virtual locations and a  premium version with unlimited bandwidth and over 30 locations. It’s also available on the most platforms including all iOS, OSX, Windows & Android devices with a chromebook & linux version coming soon. All in all a great app!

To summarize this section, using a VPN is advised as nobody can snoop on your data which can sometimes lead to identity theft. This is a great security choice for those who have overprotective schools / governments or, just business travelers who need to use a safe free hotspot without all the worrying.

Part 2) Viruses & Anti Viruses - For this section, I’ll be talking about a few tips to prevent getting or exposing yourselves to a virus and what anti viruses are the best to use and which are not. To start off, the best anti virus is common sense on the internet; You don’t click any ads, you don’t trust any site without the https sign (padlock) with credit card data, and you don’t respond to anyone claiming to be an admin or an owner of a huge giveaway company etc. It’s not as simple as just these things alone but doing them will help you greatly, reducing virus risk up to 80% studies show.

Remember, just because you have an Anti virus doesn’t mean you should turn off common sense as you are trying to prevent anything from being downloaded in the first place. If you are suspicious or wary about a certain site, leave asap. Just think of it like this: A movie pirating site most likely contains malware, just like a dark alley at midnight may contain some thieves, don’t go there!

For a good AV (anti virus) option, I would suggest doing research first and deciding what you want to spend for what kinds of protection based on your system or desires in a dream anti virus. For example: maybe one AV has a bunch of nifty features you like but for a greater price.

 I would personally suggest Kaspersky, McAfee, or Malwarebytes.  Most of these ar subscription based and offer free updates every year. Malwarebytes has a free version with limited features and I think the other two have a free trial you can test out.

Part 3) Passwords - As I mentioned above, you should only trust sensitive data like passwords and credit card info to sites that have the badge or padlock at the top browser bar which means they have https, or safe encrypted data transfer. You shouldn’t give out any of your passwords, always enable two step auth / mobile auth / email auth for your most valuable accounts. Doing all these things can be tedious but we still have one more biggie - Changing your passwords every 6 months, managing them, and remembering them. 

For doing those three things I would suggest Last Pass (https://lastpass.com/features/). They offer a password manager that has many features including Chrome & Firefox auto form filler, which updates your passwords in the cloud with their extension app so you don’t even have to type in order to be safe. Best of all, it’s free!

Part 4) General Security - This is the summary of this post. You be safe and secure is not taking all day to train yourself on the best tools, it’s spending a little extra time each day to guarantee your security. I’d say the best thing you can do is to stay informed and ask yourself does this seem fishy etc and always double check if you have doubts! I hope you enjoyed and there are going to be more post coming soon!

Next Posts: More of your favorites! Techy posts every so often to educate and entertain you guys! Look forward to an in depth VPN comparison guide up next.

My Website

My Dribbble

- Leyton Harrington

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Best Places To Learn (Part 5/6)

I had a Lynda premium account provided to me for free by my previous school and I used it way more than any of my peers as we only used it for extra credit in our tech course.

It was (and still is) absolutely amazing, even If I had to pay for it I’d recommend it over Codecademy, Youtube, Udemy, all those sites. It’s extremely professional and I love how their system works.

Here’s an imgur link showing their prices & features: http://imgur.com/a/xhuVc

It’s 20$ for basic and 30$ for premium (monthly) for their entire library of courses, which I’ll tell you about soon. My school gave me the premium account which lasted forever until I lost the password. And to be honest, there is not a 10$ difference between the two. As much as I like them they just want money for some useless features you don’t need to have. I never really used the exercise files but they could help you more than they helped me because following along isn’t my learning style. The exercise files basically include the finished code if you were doing a web design tutorial or, the stock images for graphic designers, etc. The other two features are pointless in my opinion, offline viewing and quizzing. 

Since you pay 20$ a month it better be good, right? Well duh it is. All of the course creators are respected members of their career fields hired by Lynda.com and, they team up to record the courses in exchange get a cut of the subscription fee you pay. It’s so professional I can’t  spam that enough. if you don’t like it, don’t re-subscribe next month. I you got premium, you could download the library on your computer and pay once. If not, cram sessions!

There really are no cons if you find any, let me know!

If you enjoyed this series let me know by using my email: leytonh.designs@gmail.com or by recommending my web services to friends. I’m a web designer, security researcher, and a marketer. b1o.me

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Best Places To Learn  (Part 4/6) Udemy - The Cons

Udemy is a great education based site where you can learn anything from business to web security for pretty cheap and if you’re lucky and fast, free.

I wrote about the pros of using Udemy in my last post, you should check it out if you haven’t already. To sum that post up, Udemy is a lot like a learning Youtube, because there are some free courses and, some paid courses.

Now the cons of Udemy can be a little sketchy, Udemy is sometimes given a bad rep on social media sites because of alleged piracy committed by some of their content creators. After reading this you should think back to what I said about it in my last post, about avoiding fishy creators and doing your research before buying. Of course, they offer refunds for a small period of time. Also, I cannot confirm anyone has or has not pirated any courses and resold them on Udemy but, it could definitely be true as Udemy is a bit lax on taking down pirated courses because they themselves do not make their own courses. Anyone can make content there and as long as it fits their education standards, it goes. Remember the italicized sentence as it will be important to remember for part 5 to make sense.

In conclusion, I think Udemy is pretty good besides the fact that you have to research your course provider before hand. I think the company should review and research each course before accepting it. You might be surprised but Udemy is more popular than my next option for stelar learning site, Lynda.com

Hope you enjoyed and, if you didn’t this isn’t my only series and it’s ending after the Lynda.com review. So stick around and you’ll learn a lot more!

[leytonwebdesigns]

Best Places To Learn (Part 3/6) Udemy - The Pros

Udemy is the education part of Youtube if it implemented one. The key to using Udemy best is to find the right course creator, like Youtube. Obviously this turns some people off and I can’t mention any channels / Content creators in this post. You pay for each course, no subscriptions, just flat fees.

The key is finding the right content creators and always researching before buying, I mean, you always should but, whatever. You should check out the intro / demo episodes if the creator has them and, make sure their thumbnails are legitimate. It may sound silly but some “course creators” from Udemy upload a free watermarked / bandwagon icon as their course logo. This is usually a red flag to me. You just have to be carefull. 

Also: There are some free courses on Udemy. Some are better than others but you shouldn’t expect the free content to be better than the paid courses and vice versa.

[leytonwebdesigns]

Best Places To learn (Part 2/6) Youtube - The Cons

Ok, part one of this blog series were for the pros of using Youtube to teach yourself design, and general learning. To sum that post up, Youtube is great because it’s free, easy to use, and has tons of content. In this post, I’ll be going over some of the cons to using Youtube for learning.

One of the biggest cons to using Youtube is that there just isn’t enough consistent content. You might find one channel that teaches you exactly what you want but, doesn’t upload that often. Because Youtube isn’t a teaching driven platform there are no rules or restrictions as opposed to a site like Udemy which you PAY for everything at once without needing to wait.

I had a hard time finding more cons besides the fact that there isn’t a rule set for teaching people like Udemy or other learning sites. This can hurt or help you depending on your learning style, but, since it’s free, you can’t really go wrong trying.

Hope you enjoyed this post :) next I’ll be looking at Udemy.

Check out my website if you need a web designer, or, a social media advertiser / advertisement manager. http://leytondesigns.com/

[leytonwebdesigns]

Best Places To Learn (Part 1) Youtube

In this post, I’m comparing and contrasting some of the top technological learning sites. I’ll be looking at Udemy, Lynda.com, and Youtube today.

Youtube: Ok Ok. You might be surprised that Youtube made it’s way here, but, I have learned so much from the video platform. It’s also one of the few free options I’ve actually enjoyed learning from, with the exception of a few ads. The key is finding the right channels. I won’t get into what channels I’ve used to learn around 5 languages and a ton of tricks of the web design trade, but, I’ll highlight one or two. Roberto Blake: Free webinars, tips, vlogs, reviews, and so much more. He’s a graphic design, but, gives tips to web guys and all freelancers. You won’t regret subscribing to his channel. Dev Tips: A guy who based his channel similarly to Roberto’s except for, he makes a ton of dev tip videos, as his name suggests. Those are just two of many great channels for learning and communicating with others in the community. Maybe someday I’ll do a list of great channels based on design, web, and freelancing.

[leytonwebdesigns]

Contact, Hire, Showcase Me!

My website is used for my portfolio (online resume) and a way to showcase more of my designs!

My dribbble is used for design shots and snippets I think are impressive.

My email is LeytonH.Designs@gmail.com you can contact me there about jobs or any questions you may have.

[leytonwebdesigns]

Contracts For Freelancers

Most freelancers aren’t lawyers by day, but, they still need contracts. This is a quick guide on setting up contracts and safe agreements on your own, and, most are free. I’ll be sharing some links, tips, and more in this quick post. If you enjoyed or used my guide, be sure to check out my site below. I’m a web designer, you can check out my portfolio there. Also, this guide is geared more towards designers on the web but, I think all freelancers could benefit from this.

My Site: http://leytondesigns.com/

First section is about a cool website called Docracy. It has a ton of public contracts that you can freely download and edit yourself. It has sections for photographers, small businesses, graphic and web designers, and a lot more! You can even request and upload your own contracts!

Docracy Link: http://www.docracy.com/

Our second site is Legal Zoom, the site for finding a lawyer, or advice, fast, and on your computer. You can even get protection statements and liability documents. For web freelancers, there’s an entire section dedicated to intel. property. My advice is, if you can’t do it yourself, check out Legal Zoom first!

Legal Zoom Link: http://www.legalzoom.com/

The last section of this post will have a few tips. The first tip is to always write the contract yourself, and, if the client has a problem with it, you can ask a lawyer, or, work it out on your own. Never let the client write the contract because, it will be safer and more efficient if you use your own premade template that you are comfortable with. The second tip is to always have your dates included so that everyone is happy and on track.

Hope these tips helped! Expect more posts like this one soon!

Source(s): http://webdesignledger.com/legal-guidelines-for-freelance-web-designers/ , sites above.

All Please Note: I’m not sponsored by any of these sites and am partially documenting this for future use and to help other freelancers like myself.