1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 And the previous section we learned what is a VPN, its benefits, and how to connect to it before connecting 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,000 to the Tor network. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:16,000 This was very easy as all we had to do is download the client that's compatible with our operating system. 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:23,000 Most VPN providers offer a Linux client and Thales is a Linux distro. 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Unfortunately, though, normal Linux clients will not work with Thales because of the restrictions 6 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,000 that Thales apply on the network connections. 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Therefore, connecting to a VPN from Thales can be a bit tricky. 8 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:44,000 And that's why I want to spend this lecture and the next lecture showing you how to connect to a VPN 9 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:45,000 from Thales. 10 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,000 Now keep in mind you don't have to use a VPN with Thales. 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:56,000 This is an optional step and there is a big debate whether you should use a VPN or not with Thales, 12 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:01,000 because as we know, Thales automatically forces all traffic to go through TOR. 13 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:07,000 So by default it is more anonymous and more private than normal operating systems. 14 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:14,000 So skip this lecture at the next lecture if you don't want to use a VPN and only watch it if you actually 15 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,000 do want to use a VPN with Thales. 16 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000 Now just a quick recap as we learned before. 17 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:26,000 Usually when you access a server or anything on the Internet, you send the request directly to that 18 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,000 server. 19 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:28,000 When you use a VPN. 20 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,000 You create an encrypted tunnel to the VPN server. 21 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:38,000 So if you're trying to go to Google.com, only the VPN knows that you're going to Google.com. 22 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:45,000 The traffic between you and the VPN will be fully encrypted, so it's useless to anybody that intercepts 23 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:45,000 it. 24 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:51,000 And then once the VPN gets the request, it will forwarded to the actual server that you need to go 25 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,000 to, for example, google.com. 26 00:01:53,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Now this doesn't have to be google.com, it can be any website or any server or on the internet, or 27 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:06,000 you can even send that request to the Tor network and access a darknet or a hidden service within the 28 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,000 network or go to the Internet. 29 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,000 After that, again, improving your privacy and anonymity. 30 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:18,000 Now, because of the way the data is sent in here in an encrypted manner, this adds an extra layer 31 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:19,000 of encryption. 32 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 Therefore, it improves your privacy and anonymity. 33 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,000 If your data gets intercepted by hackers or by your network admin or by your Internet service provider, 34 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:30,000 it will be gibberish. 35 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,000 It will be useless. 36 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:37,000 So they won't be able to stop you or prevent you from accessing websites and they won't be able to gather 37 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,000 information about you. 38 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:43,000 So it'll allow you to bypass censorship, protect you from hackers and so on. 39 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Now, if you want to go over this in more details, please revise my lecture on VPN in the previous 40 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,000 section. 41 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,000 This is just a quick recap. 42 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:58,000 Like I said in that lecture, we connected to a VPN easily using a client that is made for our operating 43 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,000 system. 44 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:06,000 The problem that we have now is the fact that we are using Thales because most VPN providers do not 45 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:07,000 support Thales. 46 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:15,000 So going back to how Thales work as we know it forces all traffic from our computer to go through the 47 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:16,000 Tor network. 48 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:22,000 So if we have a VPN provider, even if we have a proper subscription with them and we try to connect 49 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:29,000 to them, we won't be able to connect to it because the operating system is forcing all traffic to go 50 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,000 through the Tor network. 51 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:38,000 Therefore, we need to first configure the firewall entails to redirect all data to the VPN provider 52 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,000 instead of redirecting it to the Tor network. 53 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:47,000 So we'll configure it to redirect all data through the VPN provider and then from the VPN provider, 54 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 data is going to go to the network. 55 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:56,000 It'll bounce over the three nodes and either access a hidden service within the Tor network or go to 56 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:57,000 a website on the internet. 57 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:05,000 Now, if your VPN provider has a Thales client, then you will not need to manually do this. 58 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,000 The client will do everything for you. 59 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:15,000 The only problem is most VPN providers do not support Thales, so you'll have to do a bit of research 60 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,000 to find the ones that support it. 61 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000 As you may already know, we actually have our own VPN service, that is VPN, and we support Thales. 62 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 So let me show you how the client would work just as an example. 63 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:34,000 So all they have to do is literally download it from the downloads page in here. 64 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:39,000 I'll actually include a link to this in the resources in case you want to get more information. 65 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:46,000 All you will need to do is simply download the client and as you can see, I already have it downloaded 66 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000 in here in my persistent downloads. 67 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:56,000 It's called Zte's VPN and I'm just going to run it like so dot forward slash followed by the file name. 68 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,000 It's going to ask me, what do I want to do? 69 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 I'm going to say I want to connect. 70 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,000 It will ask me for the username and the password. 71 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,000 Then it will list all the servers available to me. 72 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,000 So all I have to do right now is select the server that I want to connect to. 73 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:20,000 For example, let's say I wanted to connect to Mexico 189 so I'm just going to type 189 hit enter. 74 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:25,000 As you can see, it will automatically configure the VPN settings, it will automatically configure 75 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:26,000 the firewall. 76 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,000 So I'm just going to put my password now the system password, the root password. 77 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:39,000 And again it will automatically download open VPN if it's not downloaded and it'll connect to the server 78 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,000 that I selected. 79 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:46,000 So as you can see right here, it's saying that I'm connected to Mexico and that's it. 80 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,000 Now we're ready to go and browse the Internet to confirm this. 81 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,000 I'm going to go and run my Tor browser. 82 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:58,000 And I'm just going to go to check the tower project dot org. 83 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,000 And perfect. 84 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:06,000 As you can see, it's still enough that my browser right now is configured to use the Tor browser. 85 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:13,000 So right now what's happening is we're connecting to the VPN first and then our traffic is routed to 86 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:14,000 the Tor network. 87 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:19,000 And then, like I said, we can bounce through three nodes and then go to the internet or stay within 88 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 the Tor network and access onion hidden services. 89 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:29,000 Now going back to the client, you can put number one if you want to connect again. 90 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:30,000 Number two, to disconnect. 91 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,000 Three, to reset the firewall settings. 92 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:39,000 So you're directly connected to TOR and you're not using the VPN and four to simply quit the client. 93 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,000 So as you can see, it's very easy. 94 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:50,000 If your VPN provider supports, tells, if your VPN provider does not support Thales, then you'll have 95 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:58,000 to manually modify the firewall settings so that it allows you to connect to the VPN and manually use 96 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,000 the VPN settings to connect to the VPN server. 97 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:08,000 This is a little bit technical and requires a little bit of Linux knowledge, but don't worry about 98 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:08,000 it. 99 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,000 I will walk you through it step by step in the next lecture.