Mar 31, 2020
Welcome!
Hey everyone. I hope you are all doing well during this period of social distancing we are experiencing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
If you are new to doing remote work or working from home then you are going to want to attend the series of webinars on tools, techniques, and tactics you can use to make this easier for you. These are all offered at no charge. Later next week, I will be offering a live training course on securing your computers, networks, and browsers. This will be deeply discounted. No pressure, but if you are interested, I would appreciate your business.
I was on with Jim Polito who was sitting in his kitchen under self-quarantine because the State of Massachusetts has advised their residents to stay home and avoid unnecessary travel and other unnecessary activities during this two-week time period. We discussed VPNs. What they are and when and why to use them and how to use them correctly. So, here we go with Jim Polito.
For more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com
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Automated Machine Generated Transcript:
Craig
You are on a laptop, if you're at home, If you're on an airplane,
at the airport, at a coffee shop, and you are using a VPN to
connect into the network at work. You are now exposing the business
network at work to everything around you in that coffee shop.
Craig
Mr. Jim Polito, this morning had me do a quick rundown of VPNs and
why they might not be the right thing for you. And I talked a
little bit about, but man some of the real cons to it and what can
they do? And that's all part of what's happening later on. Today.
I'm doing some intense stuff here on VPN, about an hour's worth
answering all your questions, and helping you to understand the
house the whys and the when should you use it when it comes to VPN?
Of course, you're listening to Craig Peterson, and here we go with
Mr. Jim Polito.
Jim
There is nothing weird about Craig Peterson, nothing at all because
he is our good friend. He is a source of invaluable information 365
days a year, but especially during this whole Coronavirus work at
home time. He's just second to none. Joining me now, our tech talk
guru Craig Peterson. Good morning, sir.
Craig
Hey, good morning, Jim. Yeah, I've been very, very busy with
webinars. I did them every day, twice a day now for the last week
and a half. I've got another probably two weeks' worth, I think.
We're going to be doing a live webinar, or two of them one at 4 pm
and one at 7:30 pm. But webinars where I'm answering everybody's
questions and I'm doing training. Today's topic is a VPN because
it's very misunderstood. A lot. A lot of people need a VPN, but
when do you need them? How can you use them? When should you use
them? When are they useful? And even give some recommendations of
some different VPN that you can use out there. So it's been going
well, I haven't had a single, negative comment. And so far I've
done about, I think it's 12 or 14 of these live webinars just
talking about remote workers working from home, what's the
technology need to use? What are the threads? How, how are they the
home workers now endangering the office, but today's VPN, we're
going to have more every day for the next two weeks, and it's right
there on my homepage.
Jim
All right, and Craig, you've been making that available to our
listeners, and you made it possible to listeners before you opened
it up to everybody else. Greg, why don't you give us just a brief
tutorial on a VPN, and that is, You know, so people understand it.
I didn't know what it was until about five years ago, myself, and
you know what a VPN is? And it's something that yes, in the right
circumstances, can protect your data and protect everything
else.
Craig
Yeah, you're right. It's VPN is the host. Again, we have a lot of
TLS in this business, which stands for three-letter acronyms. VPN
stands for Virtual private network. The idea is that you can hook
up two networks together, that's where it came from initially. You
know, way back when we'd have to have a T-one line going from one
point to another. And you probably remember those Jim because radio
stations were using them for years of leased lines to connect to
the transmitter. Yeah, and yeah, TV stations everybody. So that's
how it started. Well, those were expensive. I had two T-one lines
coming to my house 25 years ago, and that cost me almost $6,000 a
month. Very, very expensive. Things have changed today, and VPN
came into being to replace those expensive leased lines. So with
the Internet, what you could do is just have an internet connection
and connect the remote office with the main office. And instead of
having to have that expensive leased line, now you had a highly
encrypted data channel, and it connects the two networks. So that's
where it started. Today what we're using it for is very, very
similar. We're still using it to connect networks. And that's the
beauty of it. And that's the curse of it. And here's the curse
smarts. You know, if you are on a laptop, if you're at home if
you're on an airplane, At the airport at a coffee shop, and you are
using a VPN to connect into the network at work. You are now
opening up your business network at work to everything around you
in that coffee shop.
Jim
So you've been talking about open 19
Craig
Yeah, exactly. And Covid-19. What are we trying to do right now?
Isolate?
Jim
Isolate? We're trying to die. That's the key.
Craig
Yeah. Because here's your significant danger. You walk into the
house, and you bring Covid-19 into a home. And now all of a sudden
people have it, and they're dying. Well, what do you think happens
when you connect on a home computer? That is a pretty high
likelihood that it's infected somehow? What happens when you
connect that VPN now to the business network, you're spreading
disease so VPNs on No, no, no, you have to be very, very careful.
So here's another problem with the VPN.
Jim
So I guess the way you look at it is no, but the way you look at it
is, so the VPN is that secure connection. But if your connection to
that secure connection is lousy, then what's the sense of having
that other secure connection between you and your employer?
Craig
You're making things worse. Exactly. Yeah, the connection may be
secure. Yeah. So here's your other problem, you go out. And let's
say you get a Norton VPN or something. And we're going to talk a
lot more about this. Today, I'm going to show graphics about how
this all works. So I help people understand. But you get one of
these free VPN services or even one of these paid VPN services.
Your data is only secure from your device to the VPN server. So
let's say you're using one of these paid VPNs and you're connecting
to the bank, and somehow you think And it's giving you additional
security. It's not, and it is not at all. It might be making it
worse, particularly with the free VPN services that are out there,
you will be less secure because they are: what the old Willie
Sutton quote, "why did he rob banks because that's where the money
is," with VPNs that's where the money is going.
Craig
Yeah, the attackers are going after these three VPN servers and
other VPN services, because they know that's where all of the
connections are. And some of these VPN services are even tracking
everything you do, everywhere you go, and some of them are also
evil. I've seen VPN services that are running through Russia that
require you to install this unique key so that you can use it and
are doing a man in the middle attack. So that's why we're going to
cover for an hour today. It will be at 7:30 pm. I am going through
this and helping people understand. They can be useful, they can be
necessary, but they must be appropriately secured and used
correctly.
Jim
Alright, so Craig, there's a lot of different ways that folks can
get information from you. Now, I know you've got a landing page on
your website, and I'm going to I want you to give that out. But the
first way is to get other information from you that you put out
weekly to me, and then we share here, and that's by texting my name
to this number.
Craig
to 855-385-5553. So just texting Jim 2855385 5553
Jim
Standard data and text rates apply now, Craig, for folks to get to
your website, and to find out about this webinar, the VPN
information how do they do that?
Craig
Well, we have a registration on the site. The one that's up there
right now is for last night. I haven't checked Just this morning,
but I will be changing as soon as we get off the phone. Go to Craig
Peterson dot com. It'll be right there at the bottom of the
homepage at Craig Peterson dot com. That's s-o-n calm.
Jim
Alright, Greg, thank you so much. I appreciate the time, and we'll
catch up with the next week. Unless, of course, something comes up,
then you're always welcome here in between.
Craig
Alright, hey, thanks, Jim. Take care.
Jim
Take care. Bye-bye, Craig Peterson everybody a great resource. All
right, a final word. When we return. You're listening to the Jim
Pulido show from my kitchen with pops. Your safe space.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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