VPN: Graduating to NECESSITY!!!!

1.   Years back in India some where in 1990's...computer was still a rich men's possession...so was the case with plain mobiles graduating further to smart phones..but over the years today both are part of routine possession of every one...PCs/Laptops/Tablets today have entered almost all domains of most of the minutes we spend with our eyes open...whether it is office...studies... entertainment.. personal life... everything...The growing dependence has made new problems too...prime being PRIVACY.The privacy issue has recently taken a more serious note with so many Cyber Espionage operations coming in open...wiki leaks happening...Snowden out in open with his story ...government backed cyber traffic monitoring projects incl few as mentioned below :

    PRISM
    ECHELON
    Carnivore
    DISHFIRE
    STONEGHOST
    Tempora
    Frenchelon
    Stellar Wind
    Fairview
    MYSTIC
    Bullrun
    Upstream
    

2.   The above list is actually endless with specific aims of collecting information in form of call records,location mapping,building profiles....all happening in the name of building Intelligence for the safeguard of respective individual nations.There is no way one naive citizen without a tech background of any country can safeguard himself from all above operations and projects.In recent times.....VPN has been increasingly showcased across various forums and even by the likes of Snowden and Julian Assange who have used it in their routine transactions of email...Skype and messaging someone..

VPN is a network that is constructed by using public wires — usually the Internet — to connect to a private network, such as a company's internal network.  There are a number of systems that enable you to create networks using the Internet as the medium for transporting data. These systems use encryption and other security mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can access the network and that the data cannot be intercepted.

3.  Now with the growing paranoia and due concern of Cyber Security and Privacy in general public too,the option of VPN has started gaining due focus....with free VPN Services in abundance...like openvpn, freevpn, vpnbook,Shrew Soft, Comodo Unite and the free/basic version of Hamachi etc...the lure is only becoming more tempting. Most people are coming out of the typical mindset of VPN being only a corporate protocol for business travellers and people who work remotely.VPN is thus gradually moving from an option today to a necessity.The good thing is that even the paid VPN services are not so costly to make an impact on pocket.With a VPN configured in ur PC/Laptop...u r rest assured safe from prying eyes of free wifi zones at Coffee shops or places like at airport.

Does VPN imply 100% Safety for the user?

4.   Like all security solutions, even the securest of VPNs can be compromised surprisingly since if the user is keen enough/careless to download malicious files, which is why the onus lies finally with the user habits of surfing safely.A VPN only makes sure that the traffic from user end is encrypted from third party eyes...it does not defy the need for Anti-virus software’s which are primarily responsible for detecting Virus/Malwares etc

LogMeIn HAMACHI

1.   The law of market keep seeing fights to be at par with each other ie DEMAND & SUPPLY.Today when security in IT is a burning issue,we have so many utilities floating that there is no way one can be trusted blind foldly.Here come another security utility that actually stands out to work in a direction not taken up by so many prominent software security utillities in market.This is HAMACHI

2.   Hamachi is a nice ,free 2 try,tool that connects two computers via the internet by creating a virtual private network (VPN) and protecting it with proven industry-standard encryption algorithms.This will ensure that all communications between the two PCs at a time are safe from the spying eyes.It easily sets up in 10 minutes, and enables secure remote access to network, anywhere there's an Internet connection.The basic advantage that immidiately stand out are :

-   LAN over the Internet - Arrange multiple computers into their own secure network, just as if they were connected by a physical cable.

-   Files and Network Drives - Access critical files and network drives.

-   Zero-configuration - Works without having to adjust a firewall or router.

-   Security - Industry leading encryption and authentication.

-   Cost Effective - Free for non-commercial use.

3.   It features a simple interface that enables to create personal safe networks in just a couple of steps. Also the connection is conveniently protected by an AES-256 algorithm.The problem lies that it supports only chat....and not yet what we desire most ie "FILE SHARING".A new,nice attempt to take on security but still a long way to go....

4.   Thanks https://secure.logmein.com