VPN Issues

[+ecanderson]

Attempts to use GSAK to access gc.com with NORDVPN running fail.  Unable to obtain a gc.com token using either of the two GSAK methods.

Turning off NORDVPN allows access to tokens without issue.

Problem is repeatable.

 

Edited March 14 by ecanderson
typoz

[+Viajero Perdido]

This is a bugaboo with some websites, but has never been a problem for me with geocaching.com, and I do use a (different) paid VPN.  Hmm.

 

GSAK wouldn't be calling up Groundspeak's API without your login credentials, would it?  (Wouldn't be very useful that way, no.)

 

I would expect login credentials to authorize me regardless of my IP address...

[+ecanderson]

22 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:

I would expect login credentials to authorize me regardless of my IP address...

So would I.  And I was using a 'local' VPN location at the time.

 

Yes, GSAK most definitely has my correct creds, else it wouldn't work with the VPN turned off.

[+arisoft]

1 hour ago, ecanderson said:

Yes, GSAK most definitely has my correct creds, else it wouldn't work with the VPN turned off.

 

Is there any way you can adjust which services are routed through the VPN provider? I don't think GSAK has any sensitive information that you should disclose to the VPN provider?

[+Viajero Perdido]

All I can think of is, one or more IP addresses belonging to Nord ended up on a blacklist due to the shared nature of VPN endpoints, and that some bad actors have been launching attacks etc. via those same addresses.  I get rejected by various websites because of this.

BUT as mentioned, connecting to a website WITH login credentials as a known customer should override any blacklist.  Is Groundspeak checking in the right order?  (But if that's the problem, how did I get away with it for a decade on my own choice of VPN provider?)

 

So I don't know if this post really amounts to anything.  Baffled, I am.

 

PS, Nord likely gives you MANY choices of endpoints for your VPN connection.  Have you tried another country, or another server within the country of choice?  Changing that usually fixes up problems for me ... with those other websites that occasionally complain.

[+ecanderson]

4 hours ago, arisoft said:

 

Is there any way you can adjust which services are routed through the VPN provider? I don't think GSAK has any sensitive information that you should disclose to the VPN provider?

I don't usually have to spend time turning the VPN on and off based upon which website I'm hitting - I don't appreciate having to do that, and I don't know of VPN software that allows you to 'whitelist' which systems are always going to need to have VPN disabled, no.

 

 

[+ecanderson]

4 hours ago, Viajero Perdido said:

PS, Nord likely gives you MANY choices of endpoints for your VPN connection.  Have you tried another country, or another server within the country of choice?  Changing that usually fixes up problems for me ... with those other websites that occasionally complain.

Especially when in use as a location spoofer, I tend to use a 'local' server for the connection.  I haven't bothered seeing what happens if I pretend to be in the UK instead of Colorado, no.  And this is a weird one, because no other site complains about this particular server.  Even my bank, which can occasionally be fussy, has no issues with it.

[+Viajero Perdido]

Whitelisting might be called "split tunneling".  If you see that option and it suits you, you could have your Groundspeak connections bypass the VPN.

 

Personally I gave up fiddling with that - trying to make my music streaming go direct for efficiency - when I realized I had no way of knowing whether it worked.  So my music takes the long way.  Shrug.