Teleport?

[CommanderData]

I am currently using their "Dedicated IP With Encryption" VPN service and the linksys WRT54G router, is it safe enough? I just don't want others to have access to my files on the computers.

I had a thought that may cover you from end-to-end. If you leave your home computer on and logged into that external VPN all the time, and then before using Teleport you connect to that SAME external VPN with your iPhone I think the traffic should remain encrypted for the duration of the trip.

If you do that it's about as safe and secure as you can get while dealing with a third party (the VPN provider in this case). If you really want to earn your tin-foil hat, you need to cut out the middle man and set up your own hardware VPN solution at home and connect to that (such as the RV082 that I'm using)...

 

[PassiveJJ]

I think the no-ip encryption option just secures the connection of no-ip to your home computer, but not your iphone's connection to no-ip.

Currently Teleport doesn't support session encryption so it's really only safe to use on a private network behind a firewall.

The session is not encrypted even when using a VPN router. If it was truly encrypted, Teleport wouldn't be able to connect because the client doesn't support it. I'm really hoping they add in support for it in a future update, even though it would slow down the connection.

 

[CommanderData]

I think the no-ip encryption option just secures the connection of no-ip to your home computer, but not your iphone's connection to no-ip.

Currently Teleport doesn't support session encryption so it's really only safe to use on a private network behind a firewall.

The session is not encrypted even when using a VPN router. If it was truly encrypted, Teleport wouldn't be able to connect because the client doesn't support it. I'm really hoping they add in support for it in a future update, even though it would slow down the connection.

I think you don't quite understand VPNs correctly. If you have a VPN Router at home with a defined tunnel endpoint and you use your iPhone's VPN settings to connect to that tunnel endpoint, all traffic between your home network and the iPhone is encrypted *including* your Teleport and WinAdmin sessions.

Simply: On your iPhone, once connected to the VPN tunnel, the iPhone's VPN client Encrypts all outbound traffic. Your VPN Router at the Home or Office Decrypts it and allows it to proceed into the local network. Responses from your Desktop PC/Laptop are then Encrypted on the way out by your VPN Router, and Decrypted by the iPhone VPN client when received.

This shaky third party VPN business we were discussing above may have some leaks, but I dare anyone to retrieve any useful info from my hardware based VPN sessions.

 

[PassiveJJ]

I think you don't quite understand VPNs correctly. If you have a VPN Router at home with a defined tunnel endpoint and you use your iPhone's VPN settings to connect to that tunnel endpoint, all traffic between your home network and the iPhone is encrypted *including* your Teleport and WinAdmin sessions.

Simply: On your iPhone, once connected to the VPN tunnel, the iPhone's VPN client Encrypts all outbound traffic. Your VPN Router at the Home or Office Decrypts it and allows it to proceed into the local network. Responses from your Desktop PC/Laptop are then Encrypted on the way out by your VPN Router, and Decrypted by the iPhone VPN client when received.

According to Macworld, Teleport doesn't support session encryption: http://www.macworld.com/article/134827/2008/08/teleportvnc.html

Like Mocha VNC, though, this version will not encrypt your sessions, so it’s best used in a local, behind-the-firewall, environment.

Maybe you're right and I don't understand VPNs well enough, but I just don't see how your VPN router makes Teleport support encryption. I hope it does though.

 

[CommanderData]

PassiveJJ, this conversation is getting a bit disjointed between the two threads

To quote the last part of my post over there:

Basically, Teleport and iPhone apps never see encrypted packets because they are decrypted at the point of reception by the iPhone VPN client. Same thing goes for your PCs behind the VPN Router at home. All they see and send are unencrypted data, the VPN Router and iPhone Client handle encryption/decryption transparently through the tunnel as long as you are logged into the VPN tunnel.

Every large company that allows their employees to access the office while on the road is using a VPN to encrypt the data from snooping. You can have it at home too with the correct hardware and configuration.