In the previous section we learned what is a VPN.
Its benefits and how to connect to it before connected to the TOR network.
This was very easy as all we had to do is download the client that's compatible with our operating system.
Most VPN providers offer a Linux client and Thales is at an x distro.
Unfortunately though normal Linux clients will not work with Thales because of the restrictions that
Thales apply on the network connections.
Therefore connecting to a VPN from Thales can be a bit tricky and that's why I want to spend this lecture
and the next lecture showing you how to connect to a VPN from Thales.
Now keep in mind you don't have to use a VPN with tales.
This is an optional step and there is a big debate whether you should use a VPN or not.
With Thales because as we know Thales automatically forces all traffic to go through Tor so by default
it is more anonymous and more private than normal operating systems.
So skipped this lecture and the next lecture.
If you don't want to use a VPN and only watch it if you actually do want to use a VPN with tales now
just a quick recap.
As we learned before.
Usually when you access a server or anything on the internet you send the request directly to that server
when you use a VPN you create an encrypted tunnel to the VPN server.
So if you're trying to go to Google dot com only the VPN knows that you're going to Google dot com.
The traffic between you and the VPN will be fully encrypted so it's useless to anybody that intercepts
it.
And then once the VPN gets the request it'll forwarded to the actual server that you need to go to.
For example Google dot com.
Now this doesn't have to be Google dot com.
It can be any Web site or any server or on the Internet or you can even send that request to the terror
network and access a darknet or a hidden service within the network or go to the Internet after that.
Again improving your privacy and anonymity now because of the way the data is sent in here in an encrypted
manner.
This adds an extra layer of encryption therefore it improves your privacy and anonymity.
If your data gets intercepted by hackers or by your network admin or by your Internet service provider
it will be gibberish.
It'll be useless so they won't be able to stop you or prevent you from in Web sites and they won't be
able to gather information about you so it'll allow you to bypass censorship protect you from hackers
and so on.
Now if you want to go over this in more details please revise my lecture on VPN in the previous section.
This is just a quick recap.
Like I said in that lecture we connected to a VPN easily using a client that is made for our operating
system.
The problem that we have now is the fact that we are using Thales because most VPN providers do not
support Thales so going back to how tales work as we know it forces all traffic from our computer to
go through the Tor network.
So if we have a VPN provider even if we have a proper subscription with them and we try to connect to
them we won't be able to connect to it because the operating system is forcing all traffic to go through
the Tor network.
Therefore we need to first configure the firewall entails to redirect all data to the VPN Provider instead
of redirecting it to the to our network so we'll configure it to redirect all data through the VPN provider
and then from the VPN provider that has going to go to the turn network it'll bounce over the three
nodes and either access ahead in service within the third network or go to a website on the Internet.
Now if your VPN provider has a tells client then you will not need to manually do this.
The client will do everything for you.
The only problem is most VPN providers do not support Thales so you'll have to do a bit of research
to find the ones that supported.
As you may already know we actually have our own VPN service that as VPN and we support Thales.
So let me show you how the client would work just as an example.
So all they have to do is literally downloaded from the downloads page in here.
I'll actually include a link to this in their resources in case you want to get more information.
All you will need to do is simply download the client and as you can see I already have it downloaded
in here in my persistent downloads.
It's called as VPN and I'm just gonna run it like so do it forward slash followed by the file name.
It's gonna ask me what do I want to do.
I'm gonna say I want to Kinect it will ask me for the user name and password.
Then it'll list all the servers available to me.
So all I have to do right now is select the server that I want to connect to.
For example let's say I wanted to connect to Mexico 1 8 9 so I'm just going to type 1 8 9 and enter.
As you can see it will automatically configure the VPN settings.
It'll automatically configure the firewall so I'm just gonna put my password now the system password
the root password and again it'll automatically download Open VPN if it's not downloaded and it will
connect to the server that I selected.
So as you can see right here it seems that I'm connected to Mexico and that's it.
Now we're ready to go and browse the internet to confirm this.
I'm gonna go and run my tor browser.
And I'm just gonna go to check the Tor Project dot org and perfect as you can see it's still an that
my browser right now is configured to use data or browser.
So right now what's happening is we're connecting to the VPN first and then our traffic is routed to
the TOR network and then like I said we can bounce through three nodes and then go to the Internet or
stay within the Tor network and access onion hidden services now going back to the client.
You can put number one if you want a connect again.
Number two to disconnect three to reset the firewall settings.
So you're directly connected to Tor and you're not using the VPN and forth to simply quit the client.
So as you can see it's very easy.
If you're a VPN Provider supports tales if you're a VPN provider does not support Thales then you'll
have to manually modify the firewall settings so that it allows you to connect to the VPN and manually
use the VPN settings to connect to the VPN server.
This is a little bit technical and requires a little bit of Linux knowledge but don't worry about it.
I will walk you through it step by step and the next lecture.