Is Outline VPN Really that Great? Here are the Risks

Outline VPN

What is a VPN?

For those of you that are not familiar with the VPN technology, here is a quick review: Virtual Private Networks, which is the full name of this useful online tool, uses a series of protocols to hide the user’s IP address and generated traffic with several intentions.

First, masking a person’s online identity (which is what the IP address indicates,) generated content and browsing history makes it extremely hard for hackers and other cyber criminals to reach its system and cause any harm.

Second, the VPN technology can work with international systems, sites, and services such as Netflix, Hulu, the BBC iPlayer, CBC, Hotstar, Canal +, ABC, Fox Sports, ESPN, MLB, Antena 3, Fuji TV, and virtually any streaming service that the user wants to open and enjoy.

The VPN creates a virtual, computer-generated tunnel in which all the relevant data about the user travels securely through remote servers. To protect the valuable information, some of the most renowned protocols are OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, SSTP, and IKEv2.

VPNs can lend users temporary IP addresses to use while they connect to the Internet. That way, their IP number is safeguarded, and they achieve anonymity, privacy, security, and they can access international websites and services from any part of the world.

Google Developed VPN solution? 

Now that you are familiarized with what VPN means and can do to your online experience, you should hear this: Google, the almighty Internet powerhouse, has developed – through Alphabet and the tech incubator Jigsaw, a brand-new VPN solution for its millions of users around the world.

However, the resulting product has one particularity: it is of the DIY (Do It Yourself) variety, which means that it comes with all settings and configurations to be set at the customer’s taste. You can put together your VPN network according to your preferences. The name of the offering is Outline VPN, and thousands of tech experts and regular clients all around the globe are already trying its features.

Outline VPN: Do it Yourself!

With the primary intention of serving as an aid for publishers to attract paid subscribers, fend off the fake news and safeguard writers and their content from spies and prying eyes on the web, Google chose to create their DIY VPN service.

The Outline VPN solution will be set up on a server and users will have the ability to control it in the cloud. One of the positive things about the service is that is relatively simple and straightforward to install and use so that anybody can configure the software without much hassle.

Another one of the objectives that Google, Alphabet, and Jigsaw have established is to achieve high speeds of VPN-routed browsing and, at the same time, providing the users and customers increased anonymity in their online sessions.

The Outline technology has the potential to be a game-changer when it comes to the VPN industry. Most, if not all providers can see their customers’ generated traffic, browsing history and data logs: they can keep it private for external agents, but they can look at what you do while you are online. That means that you have to trust your provider not to reveal any details of your session.

With the Outline VPN feature that Google has developed, the user does not have to be at their provider’s mercy because since the customer is the one doing all the configurations, the VPN server can’t have access to the generated content’s logs. Outline, therefore, offers unique anonymity features that most VPN’s just can’t compete with.

How does Outline VPN work?

As you already know by now, a VPN’s primary objectives are to provide privacy and data security to those that choose to use them. Santiago Andrigo, which is Jigsaw’s product manager, states that Outline VPN lets people administrate their virtual private networks, so it is in some ways better than some of the paid, custom VPN apps that are so renowned.

As Andrigo explains, no third parties or external agents will have access to the user’s content: no even the VPN server or manager! Just like regular VPN services, Outline uses encryption measures and protocols to hide the content and eliminate the threat of data theft, privacy breaches, and security issues.

Free VPN alternatives in the market are not trustworthy, because they can sell your data and traffic around to make money, and because their encryption protocols and measures aren’t robust enough to protect your privacy and online security. However, Outline VPN is the first client that offers 100% privacy to all of its customers.

Alphabet and Jigsaw’s product differentiates from similar, previous initiatives like AlgoVPN in that it facilitates the process with a graphical user interface (GUI). The project is an Electron-based application, so the aspect is that of a web application.

The folks at Alphabet also recommend using it with Digital Ocean, which is a well-known provider of virtual private servers – if what you want is to automate the whole process. The idea is excellent for small companies that do not have the as much technical knowledge, although of course, it is possible to use it in other suppliers.

Once installed, the application generates a first key for that secure connection, but we can add more users and invite them to use our VPN server. We can even create parallel servers or delete them if we do not need them, and the application will inform how much bandwidth each user uses.

Jigsaw recently explained that Outline implements the 256-bit AEAD (Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data,) protecting against all breaches including fingerprinting and probing.

Is Outline VPN Really that Great? Here are the Risks

The dirty little secret of this whole deal is that Outline is not a pure VPN since it makes use of the Shadowsocks protocol, an Open Source project to create a SOCKS5 proxy that redirects Internet traffic. If you want a VPN that uses OpenVPN and 256-AES encryption, you’ll need to stick to something like TorGuard.

Since Outline is a product of Alphabet, a well-known Google associate, you may think that your privacy is at risk. And we don’t blame you, knowing that Google is famous for gathering their users’ data and information with the intention of offering a better, more personalized service. However, the fact that it is open source and virtually anybody can check the details for himself/herself projects confidence in the product.

Outline VPN is especially useful for news organizations because they depend on anonymity and privacy to perform their jobs to perfection. It is available for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux, and can be used as an open source tool that is on the Github website.

The Outline feature has a website that details its operation and its price, with plans starting at $5 per month for corporations that are interested in acquiring privacy and protection commonly associated with VPN technology. It is designed to help organizations that work in countries that censor the Internet, such as Iran or China, but can be used as a regular, more traditional Virtual Private Network.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Virtual Private Networks are increasing in popularity over the past few years, because privacy and security breaches threaten to jeopardize the users’ overall online experience with shady acts, such as hacking attacks, data thefts, and more.

With VPNs, the user trusts the company to encrypt his/her content and not let anyone that is considered an external agent to have access to it. However, in the process, the VPN client can see what you do or share online, making 100% privacy not attainable by these services.

Outline VPN, developed by Google’s partners, offers a VPN-like software that can encrypt content to protect it from prying eyes while implementing similar protocols and measures, but with the difference of providing users the chance to configure the encryption themselves. That way, each customer manages its privacy and online security.

However, since the VPN is designed and developed by Google, you should consider that as a possible implication of data privacy loss.

Passion for Cyber Security and Technology.

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