How To Choose Between A Commercial Or Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy And VPNHere, we're going to review commercial and free encrypted tunnel proxy and VPN technologies for the home or small office. The term 'encrypted tunnel' is used to describe both secure anonymous proxies and Virtual Private Networks (VPN). (If you want to understand more about the various types of anonymous surfing to guard privacy, see The Different Types Of Anonymous Surfing Tools). So you can get a good feel for what is suitable for your situation, we'll take a look first at the differences between tunnel proxies and VPN, then we'll review some of the commercial and free encrypted tunnel proxy and VPN products... 1. Commercial Or Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy And VPN... The DifferencesI. Security Of Data And PrivacyA commercial or free encrypted tunnel proxy and VPN generally will use the same type of encryption... usually SSL or SSH (For more details, take a look at Commercial and Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy... The Role Of SSL And SSH). However, a tunnel proxy has all connections and data routed through a proxy server. This proxy server retains logs of...
Now, although we would be supportive of criminal investigations, if we're not the subject of that investigation, we still may not want our records to be handed over to the authorities, just because we've used that, or those, particular proxy server(s). The point is, if we are accessing or transferring highly confidential information -- whether it be of a personal or commercial nature -- then we may wish to avoid this potential security or privacy risk. This is why a VPN is more secure, in this respect. There is no proxy server involved in the secure tunneling of a VPN -- our PC acts as the anonymous, encrypted server, making a direct connection with the web-based application of our choice. With VPN, then, there is no risk of our data and browsing data being handed over to any third party. If you are not accessing or transferring highly confidential information -- like a client's financial information -- over the Internet, then for most home and small offices, a commercial or free encrypted tunnel proxy will guard privacy requirements. II. FunctionalityA commercial or free encrypted tunnel proxy is limited by the type of proxy used... For instance, a web proxy will only generally allow encrypted and anonymous web surfing, whereas a Socks proxy allows many more web-based applications, such as file transfers and downloads. With VPN, everything we send or receive on our computer is encrypted and anonymized, such as file transfer, email, IRC, ICQ, P2P, as well as surfing. There is no proxy involved, so a VPN has a direct connection from our computer to our destination. Our Internet activity is invisible and easy to thread through a narrow hole in a firewall or router. III. SpeedUsing both a proxy and encryption generally slows down connection speeds of the commercial or free encrypted tunnel proxy. A VPN has no loss of speed. IV. AvailabilityMainly the domain of corporations, governments and other large organisations, VPN is generally used for remote workers to connect to the corporate network. However, an SSL or SSH VPN can also be an option for the home or small office user who doesn't want the risk of their data and browsing history being stored on a proxy server, as mentioned above. There are also SSL and SSH proxy tunnels. These differ from a true VPN in that, although masking our IP address and encrypting our data transfers, our transmissions are passed though a proxy server, which anonymizes and encrypts our content. Because SSL encrypted anonymous proxies have been discussed in A Review Of The Best Commercial International Anonymizers, the products we'll be focussing on here are SSH commercial or free encrypted tunnel proxy and VPN programs... 2. Commercial And Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy... SSH Tunnel And VPN ProductsI'd like to say upfront that I haven't used any of the products listed below, so I'm unable to recommend any specific programs to you. I shall be purchasing two of the products to use and will post a review about them, shortly. You can keep in touch with when the reviews are available by subscribing to my Guard Privacy & Online Security News & Information blog. I. Commercial And Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy... TorThe Tor Project is the only free encrypted tunnel proxy or VPN I've come across. Tor is an outgrowth of research sponsored by the US Navy. It is a network of virtual tunnels and can be used to replace traditional VPNs. Here's how it works... A user obtains anonymity and encryption by incrementally building a circuit of encrypted connections through servers on the Tor network. As the user is passed from one server to another, each server only knows which server it receives data from and gives it to -- no individual server knows the full path that the data has taken. Additionally, a new set of encryption keys is set up for each server, so these connections can't be traced. In this way, unlike a traditional encrypted proxy server, no investigation of the server logs can link data and connections to your computer, due to the disconnected pathway and separate encryption. By using this process, Tor is equivalent to the security of a true VPN and the site has full and clear instructions for installation and use. This free encrypted tunnel proxy sounds too good to be true... and in a sense it is. Unfortunately, the project is still in the development stages and anonymity and security is not guaranteed. However, its use and development is gaining momentum, so it's definitely one to keep an eye on or try if you're not too concerned about the potential loss of privacy. You'll find out how to use it at The Tor Home Page II. Commercial And Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy... Anonymizer Total Net ShieldI discussed and reviewed Anonymizer's Anonymous Surfing as one of the best encrypted tunnel proxies in A Review Of The Best Commercial International Anonymizers and Anonymizer Versus GhostSurf Review. Anonymizer has also developed Anonymizer Total Net Shield which creates an encrypted "virtual tunnel" to and from your computer. Total Net Shield is similar to the secure Virtual Private Networks (VPN) that we've just discussed, but the information on the site states it is "designed for personal use". Quite what this means, the site doesn't spell out, and its disappointing that Anonymizer doesn't give its potential customers more detail about how it operates. However, reading between the lines, Total Net Shield creates an SSH encrypted VPN tunnel between your computer and Anonymizer's servers, from which you access encrypted and anonymous Web applications. Besides masking your IP address, Total Net Shield encrypts ALL Web applications, such as chat, instant messaging, and newsgroup communications. Another benefit of this package I've picked up from other users is that it doesn't suffer the connection speed loss common with proxy anonymizers in general. It also provides encrypted email, to communicate confidential information, SpamAssassin anti-spam technology that filters out unwanted junk email, and a digital shredder to eliminate surfing tracks on your computer. As a result, Anonymizer claims Total Net Shield encrypts all your Web communications protecting your identity from pharmers, phishers and online snoops Because of the good, second-hand reports I've had about this package, this is one of the two products I'll be testing and reporting on. To find out more, click on the link above. 3. Commercial And Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy... Secure-TunnelThe features and operation of this commercial product are very similar to Total Net Shield... Secure-Tunnel allows your use of any web application to be hidden behind 1024-BIT SSH encryption. It claims to have broadband connection speeds due to its server capacity and, with SSH, will be an advantage over SSL encrypted tunnels. By going through Secure-Tunnel, all your e-mail is encrypted to and from your computer, so nobody can intercept or access your private e-mails. With this SSH encryption, it also means your wi-fi data is completely protected, should crackers break into your home/office network or hotspot connection. Anonymous and encrypted Web applications are offered, also, but it depends on what package you choose... There are three subscriptions: Silver, Gold and Platinum, with each offering different levels of privacy protection. For instance, the Gold Package offers full web browsing, email, ICQ, IRC and P2P protection, suiting most home/office users. What's good about the subscription is you can choose a monthly payment, allowing you to try it out before committing to a discounted annual payment. This is the second product I shall be trying out and reporting back to you with a review of my experience. You can find out more about the product at the Secure-Tunnel Home Page . 4. Commercial And Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy... GuardsterIn order to use the Guardster SSH Tunnel, you need to configure your local applications, such as Internet Explorer, to use Guardster's SOCKS proxy. You will also need an SSH client application, but the member account section provides access to software and instructions. With the SSH tunnel in place, the applications will have all their data routed through the secure encrypted tunnel to Guardster's SOCKS proxy. Unusually, your privacy is assured -- the Guardster privacy policy states that its subscription service "does not collect, track nor retain any information about who uses it, their IP addresses or the uses to which it is put." The company operates from Nevis, which has strong privacy laws. There is a monthly or annual subscription service. However, at a cost similar to that of Total Net Shield and Secure-Tunnel -- but having to source your own SSH application -- this may put many non-technical people off. 5. Commercial And Free Encrypted Tunnel Proxy... Configuring Your Own VPNFor those of you who want to configure your own free encrypted tunnel proxy or inexpensive VPN at home, rather than the 'ready-made' products above, then read this excellent article. To succesfully navigate through the instructions, you will need some technical knowledge, but the detail is very clear. 3. Commercial And Free Proxy Anonymizers... Supporting Articles
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