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When I'm connecting to the remote end of my VPN, I'm doing so on an encrypted connection, checking the certificate. If the certificate has a mismatch, then the
by madhouse 16y ago
When I'm connecting to the remote end of my VPN, I'm doing so on an encrypted connection, checking the certificate.
If the certificate has a mismatch, then the connection stops, and the VPN doesn't build up. Even if my ISP or government would play MITM, if I know the correct certificate of the other end (and, if all else fails, I can trust the VPN the first time around, and once inside, check the server's certificate locally, where there is no man in the middle, and compare it to what I received during the handshake earlier - if it's not the same, there's someone in between), there's no way they can fake that, to the best of my knowledge.
- erikb 16y agoSo at least on day one of using the VPN connection - when you download the client and set everything up - you need to trust your connection.
- madhouse 16y agoIt takes about 10 minutes to download a VPN client (or, you could get one on CD or USB drive or whatever, from a trusted source, etc). Depending on the complexity of the VPN, it takes around an hour tops to make it work. And a few minutes to verify it's integrity. If you can obtain the server's certificate from a trusted source, then it takes even less.