Illegal VPN In Iran: The Remedy Is Right Here

You may have heard from that the Telecom Minister of Iran, Reza Taghipour rendered the use of VPN as well as any other similar anti-filtering apps and programs to be illegal. As a consequence, Iran blocked all L2TP VPN and PPTP protocols respectively, sometime ago.

This declaration has not in any way baffled most Iranians, as the nation has long been plagued with censorship issues since the dawn of history. Whatever the government deems fit to block and suspend, they will do in the name of security and public interest. To date, they have placed censorship to millions of web blogs, websites, and discussion boards that they suspect to be publishing unsuitable content, especially those that proved subversive and poses a threat on their faith and or governance as a whole.

In order for the people of Iran to circumvent these restrictions, they have turned to the aid of VPNs. While, others seek the help of other filter circumventing client or program to bypass these censorships. Nonetheless, with the recent promulgation of using VPN and other ant-filtering programs as criminal, most Iranians are left with no apparent choice at all!

But lo, and behold, Iran has still a glimpse of hope! The answer clearly for all these censorships is – SSH VPN.

What is SSH VPN? How can it help Iranians amidst the censorship prevalent in their country today?

SSH Tunnel otherwise known as Secure Shell affords end-users a secure communication for the transfer of any digital data via a non-secure network such as the Internet.

Even though, VPN and SSH accomplish the same amount of work, i.e. secure data given between various points, yet truth be told that there are glaring distinctions as to the way they actually function, like the following:

1. VPN functions effectively as it transport layer whereas SSH works at application layer. The former encrypts all communication made on the end points of each network regardless if prompted or not. The latter on the other hand functions on a specified port and will provide encryption only from the host pc to the other pc it is required to SSH’d.
2. SSH is perfect to log into a remote or cloud system while, VPN is utilized to connect various networks.
3. As VPN encrypts data and entire traffic even if not prompted, it can throttle connectivity. SSH on the contrary encrypts only the chosen application for an agreed period of time.
4. With regards TCP/IP stacking, VPN works at the lower level or the network level and thus can be utilized to protect the whole network traffic. SSH is diverse as it works at the port level, and so is perfect to secure specific connections.
5. Much like VPN SSH is a network type that is hard to be identified by any third party.

In view of the foregoing considerations, it seems viable to utilize SSH and access restricted websites while in Iran. In order to utilize SSH to circumvent filters and connect, you need to choose the best VPN service provider out there. Currently, there are very few reputable services that provide SSH tunneling online. Here are the services that I recommend for Iranian users: IAPS, TuVPN and TorVPN.

How to purchase SSH services online?

In light of the recent promulgation rendering the use of anti-filtering programs as illegal, we suggest end-users seek the help of their pals from the USA or UK to pay for the SSH service subscription, lest they be traced as the one paying for said prohibited services. And even so, VPN service providers have now ceased and desisted from accepting subscriptions from Iran due to said decree.

Lastly, it is not far-fetched that VPN will soon be available in Iran. But meantime that it is forbidden, best to turn to quality SSH service providers on the web today.