this post was submitted on 07 May 2024
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VPNs have several purposes but the big two are hiding your traffic from attackers on the local area network and concealing your location from sites that you visit.
If you're using a VPN on wifi at a cafe and anyone else at the cafe can run a rogue DHCP server (eg, with an app on their phone) and route all of your traffic through them instead of through the VPN, I think most VPN users would say the purpose of the VPN has been defeated.
If some random user is able to configure themselves as DHCP, NOONE should be connected to that insecure trash.
The vast majority of LANs do not do anything to prevent rogue DHCP servers.
Just to be clear, a "DHCP server" is a piece of software which can run anywhere (including a phone). Eg, if your friend's phone has some malware and you let them use the wifi at your house, someone could be automatically doing this attack against your laptop while they're there.
Seems like quite an amateur move to run a public network without filtering everyrhing, including dhcp. Again; insecure trash.
Yes, I know there is a lot of insecure trash out there. The commonality doesn't magically make it not insecure trash.