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  1. Should the VPN have a no-log policy or is it better to have a log policy? I think a log policy is OK, I am not doing anything illegal just protecting myself from illegal surveillance by criminals.
  2. Does it really matter what country the VPN is based in? Wouldn't it be better if it is based in your home country, as it will have to follow privacy laws in that country?
  3. Lastly, are VPN connections really secured because I noticed that during one intrusion on my device the hacker forcibly downgraded the version of the VPN (to one with less servers). The change was done smoothly and had I not been looking for it would have missed it. I repaired it by reinstalling the VPN software but how would a hacker be able to do that?
schroeder
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Bell
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  • Welcome to security stackexchange. I flagged your question as primarly opinon-based because it depends of the use you want to do of the VPN. A non tech-savy just wanting to add a layer of anonimity will be better with a easy to set user friendly vpn while a whistle blower would prefer a very safe 0 log and full cutomizable vpn. – Xavier59 Sep 30 '19 at 11:44
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    Possible duplicate of [How do I pick a VPN provider?](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/3973/how-do-i-pick-a-vpn-provider) – Anders Sep 30 '19 at 11:55
  • Thank you for your input. Is it not allowed to ask about features that would make a vpn better suited for a user ? I agree that it will depend on the user and the context in which the vpn will be used but I thought I had addressed that part by saying that I am just looking for a way to protect my internet traffic from digital stalkers ( criminals ). Is the exchange of ideas , and recommendations not the main reason for posting a question? I am still getting used to stack exchange, so the rules that you just mentioned did not seem to have been broken but I may be wrong. – Bell Sep 30 '19 at 11:59
  • @Bell Hello and welcome to the site! It's not always so easy to say what is on topic and what is not, and people may have different opinions. For example, the more I think about it, I'm not sure the question I suggested as a duplicate is really a duplicate... – Anders Sep 30 '19 at 12:02
  • I removed the first 3 points because they are not security-related. The thing you are missing is the reason why you want a VPN in the first place. What threats do you want to counter? That will inform you whether no-log is important. As for country, you can see how that will depend on the privacy laws of the country, so the answer cannot be general. – schroeder Sep 30 '19 at 14:29
  • Your last question appears to be your "real" question, and it's unanswerable. "Are they really secured?" -- against *what*? – schroeder Sep 30 '19 at 14:31

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  1. Does it really matter what country the vpn is based in? wouldn't it be better if it is based in your home country, as it will have to follow privacy laws in that country?

Well, in most of time this is a "speedy" problem rather than a security problem, your connection with a server based in mainland China can be slow or fast depending on were you live, if slow timeouts can occur or loss of connectivity which can disclose your IP address per turn. In that case it can be better to estabilish a connection with servers that are setup in your own country or neighboring countries so there will be a less likelihood of disclosure or leakage. Some VPN-Services provide a kill-switch function that kills the connection between you and the internet if the VPN-connection is lost.

  1. Are VPN connections really secured because I noticed that during one intrusion on my device the hacker forcibly downgraded the version of the VPN (to one with less servers). The change was done smoothly and had I not been looking for it would have missed it. I repaired it by reinstalling the VPN software but how would a hacker be able to do that?

I think the hacker/intruder was trying to connect you with VPN-servers that were compromised. Basic reinstallation/reconnecting will overcome this.

tungsten
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  • Great comment, Tungsten but now I am wondering how the hacker got to install a corrupted version of the vpn on my device in the first place. I gave you a thumbs up for the comment, great comment based on the data that was provided. – Bell Sep 30 '19 at 12:38
  • @Bell It's hard to say what happened exactly and only speculation is possible, but a person may have gained access to your environment somehow and replaced the current software with a corrupted one that exactly looks like the legitimate software (not sure about that because this is too much work to be a targeted attack). – tungsten Sep 30 '19 at 12:48
  • Thank you, Great input. Sharing ideas with you was truly rewarding. Sorry for the lack of data but your comments brought in more and more understanding of the situation. – Bell Sep 30 '19 at 12:53