Create your own $5 VPN in 2 minutes
Disclaimer: Goal of this guide is to introduce a lesser known feature of SSH. Readers are responsible for their own actions.
Well, it is not exactly a VPN but it gets the job done.
SSH is a well known secure way to access a remote computer over an unsecured network. SSH tunnelling or ssh port forwarding is a lesser known feature of ssh.
SSH tunnelling allows sending arbitrary network data through a secured SSH channel so that is encrypted and cannot be eavesdropped.
Step 1- create your server
Purchase your server
Head over to linode/Digitalocean and create an account. Create a new server. $5 droplet/linode is more than enough.
Step 2 - Create ssh tunnel
Create a SSH tunnel from your computer to your server.
ssh -D 8123 -f -C -N username@your-server-ip
Step 3 - Set your proxy settings
Customize your proxy settings to 127.0.0.1:8123