BW and VPNs - Any particular concerns to be aware of?

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1

I’m thinking of putting a VPN on both my computer and my phone, and want to be sure it doesn’t cause any issues with BW.
Based on what I’ve read, BW doesn’t appear to have any major issues with VPN. But I have read of some one-off problems.
My questions:

  1. Are there any particular issues I should be aware of with regard to BW, if I put a VPN on my PC or phone?
  2. Are there any particular brands of VPN that seem to play nicer with BW than some other brands?
    Thanks
2

Hi,

This may or may not be a current issue. Bitwarden in the past sometimes threw up some defenses because it detected “Unusual Traffic” from a particular IP address. The solution to the user can be either 1) if using an VPN address, stop (or connect to another server), 2) if not, try using a VPN address. See this help page:

This could happen from a “normal” IP address too.

As for brands, I have never once seen people mentioning a particular VPN being nice/unnice when used with Bitwarden.

3

Thanks. I am wondering about the statement on the help page that says, “If you’re using a VPN or proxy server, the server your traffic is routed through may also be routing requests for malicious actors.”
Generally speaking (not just with respect to BW), is there any risk to your computer security if the VPN server you are using is also being used by bad actors? That is, can they somehow get into your network or PC because they are using the same server that you are? Or, does the encryption of your traffic prevent that?

4

“Generally speaking (not just with respect to BW), is there any risk to your computer security if the VPN server you are using is also being used by bad actors? That is, can they somehow get into your network or PC because they are using the same server that you are? Or, does the encryption of your traffic prevent that?”

I use AirVPN. It is open source and traffic is powerfully encrypted, using AES-256 GCM or ChaCha20-Poly1305. There is no risk to my security using AirVPN. For banking I prefer not using a VPN so my IP is recognized.

5

Yeah, if bad actors are using that IP address to attack BW, then your sharing the same IP address may cause the unusual traffic defense to go up.

Bad actors sharing the same VPN server with you for VPN service normally? No way they can exploit you. Bad actors able to successfully exploit your VPN server or your VPN client? Probably many kinds of things can happen, especially if chained with other network/device exploits. Even if VPN is billed for security/privacy, keep in mind that it a set of software / protocol that also sport vulnerabilities that keep getting discovered (and maybe exploited) too. Using only app with encrypted connections (like TLS) would go a long way; don’t be complacent that all your traffic is encrypted by VPN.

6

Thanks all. I had never heard of AirVPN. Most of the “10 Best VPNs” articles I read never mention it, but that may be because they are not written by technical folks.
I did some reading on it, and it seems to be highly regarded.
I was thinking of going with Proton, because it gets good reviews, and I do recall one poster who said the only two VPNs worth considering are AirVPN and Proton, He also said that Proton is easier to use and has a better user interface. For non-techies like myself, “keeping it simple” is important. Prices also seem relatively comparable.
I’ll check out both, though, before I make a final decision.
Thanks again

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