I know there have been multiple topics posted about VPN connections, but I haven't found one that answered my question.
I have a paid VPN subscription that I'd like to run HE through for security purposes. My router is pretty basic but serves all my needs, except I can't flash new firmware on it to install VPN. I also know that VPN routers exist, but I'm not trying to spend that money right now. I have my VPN on my laptop. So, would tethering HE to the laptop and sharing it's connection work?
You can definitely use Internet Connection Sharing in Windows (and probably similar solutions on macOS, Linux, and elsewhere) to get the Hubitat hub an internet connection that would go through your computer, including the VPN if the network connection you're sharing from the computer ultimately goes through one. Of course, you'd need a separate network adapter for this, like the built-in wired port if you're other is connecting over wifi, or a USB Ethernet adapter if you don't have anything.
However, is your goal just to prevent "snooping" on traffic that goes from the hub to the internet? This should be minimal, just things like firmware updates (and checking for them), cloud Dashboards, and any cloud integrations you might have (e.g., the Alexa skill or Google Home app). This should all be over HTTPS in case that is a concern.
Most people here talk about using a VPN as one method for remote access to their hub's admin UI. This is basically the opposite of what is being asked above (VPN client on your side rather than a server), so it wouldn't help with this. Just wanted to make sure the goals were clear first!
To keep things as simple as possible, why not remotely connect to the laptop via the VPN with a screen-sharing / remote control program, such as Teamviewer, and once connected to the lap top, you are then able to connect to the Hubitat.
As you might be able to tell, I'm not an expert in all of this. I am very concerned about security in general, trying to limit snooping and hacking wherever possible. Just wanting remote access to the dashboard (don't really need access to the admin) as secure as possible. I thought I could use my existing service.
Depending on the type of VPN you might be able to connect your router to the VPN and let everything route through it.
This is probably overkill and slow though and I would only consider doing something like this if my location / connection to the internet was not trusted..
I’m no internet security expert, but the only reason I can think of to use a VPN for a connection that’s already encrypted would be if you wanted to obscure the fact that you’re connecting to a Hubitat cloud server at all.
