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It's no secret that VPNs have become very popular lately, but... what very few people know is that the use of VPNs in universities has skyrocketed in recent times. , VPN usage in New Zealand has almost doubled since the beginning of 2020. As reported by vpnetic But before we get down to business, it's important that you know what a VPN is and what it is used for. What is a VPN? Image Source: jw-webmagazine VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. If you're just a techie, the name alone won't tell you what a VPN is, so here are some practical uses. The main function of a VPN is to assign you a different IP address than the one you normally have. This gives you the possibility to make the web believe that you are physically located in another country and that in essence, you are someone else, having more security on the way.  If you are interested in the subject, we also advise you to read about the , which we recently published. risks of social engineering Why use a VPN? Image source: globemw Using a VPN gives you several advantages, the main ones being: View restricted content Unfortunately, there is a lot of content on the internet (series, games, movies, etc.) that is restricted by country. For example, to watch the Mr. Robot series on Netflix your IP address has to be in the United States. With a VPN, that would not be a problem, you could watch the series from Japan if you want. Have more security on the web The Internet is not safe, many people want to steal your data or hack you. For example, when you use a public Wi-Fi network, you are vulnerable to hacker attacks. By using a good quality VPN, you will be protected, the VPN encryption system will make you almost immune to hackers. If you're also interested in increased security in the software industry, . you can continue here For universities, it is essential to preserve the information contained both in the students' computers, as well as in the servers where the educational information and personal data of teachers and students reside. Accessing networks remotely With a VPN you can access your work network remotely, without the need to be directly on site. This is essential at a time when distance education is growing exponentially worldwide, a new habit, which at least partially, is here to stay. VPN in New Zealand Universities Reportedly, the use of VPNs in New Zealand has almost doubled since the beginning of 2020. If we talk about the use of VPNs in New Zealand's universities, the figures are much higher, even quadrupling! What use can you make of your university's VPN? The main use is to store data in your cloud.  If you are off campus because of the pandemic situation or because of another particular situation you would need your VPN to access the cloud. Also, in some cases you can remotely have access to the computers on campus. This feature is also useful for teachers or administrative staff. How to access your university's VPN The way universities access VPNs often varies, and study centers have generally already incorporated VPNs into their methodology.  Here are some examples. The University of Auckland, for example, uses the FortiClient software. . You can see complete instructions here Another university that has extended the use of VPN is New Zealand’s , which has implemented Cisco AnyConnect. University of Otago Image Source: turnonvpn

The Use of VPNs Is Spreading in New Zealand's Universities

"On my way to Boston for MIT Bitcoin Expo 2020 at the MIT Bitcoin Club. Excited to learn about new tech developments in the field." Simple, humble words spoken by someone who's certainly humble but not in the least bit simple. Her sophistication is subtle, but much like her sincerity it's as deep as it is genuine. Who spoke those words? , journalist at . Five months into her career there and Cheng's changing things up and making waves. Read on and you'll be able to ride some of these waves with me as I cover the reasons why Cheng is... Meet Yilun Cheng The Block Crypto Worth being aware of Worth following the work of Worth learning from her tradecraft if you're a fellow journalist. It All Started With A Tweet Literally. It all started with a tweet. This single tweet led me to discover Cheng and enabled me to form an impression of her as a professional and a peer. You'll note the following: Firstly, Cheng is on the ground floor, not up in the nosebleeds or up in the personal space of James Prestwich, . You might be sitting there thinking: "So what?" and to that I'd add: Not so fast. When you're in the field trying to acquire vital information, extracting factual data and doing so in a way which is meant to present itself as compelling, judging distance and assessing the comfort level of your subject is never as easy as it looks. Founder of Summa Secondly: Cheng's quote is relevant to what's going on. It's crisp, it's timely, it makes sense and ultimately would help to establish a narrative-based chronicle as opposed to a disjointed, entirely unconfigured stream of nonsense...but enough about my early years on the job. As you'll see from additional examples of content Cheng produced, she was consistent all throughout and never once deviated while on the job. She didn't all of a sudden decide to go up (like many of us were feeling the temptation to) and take selfies with the giant Bitcoin for example: Photo Credit: Cryptoeconomic Systems Journal CfP ™ Oh in case you were wondering...the MIT Bitcoin Club are also quite extraordinary and seeing as they organized everything one supposes they have the right to spend a Bit of time with the props. Getting back to our main theme, let's have a look at another one of her on-point tweets: I would remind all of you that the risks associating with potentially flubbing on a scoop involving the Fed Reserve are, well, unpleasant to say the least. Cheng didn't need to worry about that though as she sourced everything exactly as it was said by exactly who and in what context. Never once did she write: " Well...in my opinion...." " I think that...it should...." One more time for the people in the back: Just-The-Facts. Choosing Cheng Was A Wise Choice: Why Might Dudas Have Done So Mike Dudas, Founder and CEO of The Block, 9 which I'd read with great interest. It informed me quite a bit about the individual behind the thought process: wrote an article a-way back in August of 201 Per the WSJ, even as she was downloading the data from Capital One's computers, Thompson was posting direct messages about major security issues on public message boards, "Dude so many people are doing it wrong." The massive Capital One breach has led many security professionals to criticize Amazon's practices, with many claiming that the company doesn't do enough to alert its customers of misconfigured data that is ripe for hacking. Dudas was pretty darn gutsy, but never once did the needle move into ridiculous territory. Providing timely, relevant, and actionable intelligence is something the best journalists take just as seriously as eating, sleeping, and etc. Observing Cheng go about her work at the expo, it became clear to me that, just like her boss, she was chasing stories and covering the news with an efficiency and integrity which reaffirmed my appreciation for our field. I observed that: Cheng isn't out there bothering people with her opinions. Cheng isn't telling people how she "feels". She's reporting the facts, just the facts, and there's no doubt that Columbia was fortunate to have her as a student because she's actually proving that she listened, learned, and gives a damn about the news. This is SO important in the world of blockchain. Why? Because every Tom, Dick, and Grandma thinks blockchain enthusiasts are basically ninja hackers who are out to ruin your day. ...Cheng is in the field, camera slung around her shoulder and notepad in her hand. I admire Cheng - because according to protocol and the tradition of our trade she's checking all the boxes. Why Cheng's Process Represents a Difference Between Meh and Making an Impact There's a lot of repetition here, and that's for a reason: As journalists, we have to bear in mind how tight of a line we tread between the precision of accurate analysis and the blurry world of a blogger's opinion. My editor at a hyperlocal news outfit had probably lost so much sleep and time when I first began covering the news, trying time after time to remind me that we aren't in this line of work to make friends. "You're in this line of work because you care about getting to the heart of things, about drilling down to the core. You're in this line of work because you're not just a writer - everyone's a writer, but because you want your writing to make a difference. That's a journalist." Seeing Cheng work reaffirmed, for me, why my peers in journalism who lean into the wisdom quoted above can really impact the world. It's not just about distributing content or even about tailoring that content to make it shine extra bright...it's about doing as Cheng did: Observing and recording the news right. Guess Who's Coming To...A Working Lunch? She was gracious and, at , even agreed to sit for an interview with our very own Benton Yaun. Each question which was fielded to her she answered with clarity and an easygoing but authentic demeanor. There was a curiosity which defines most of us in the industry - especially the ones just starting out who haven't been jaded by stale bagels, weak coffee, and even weaker or slower news cycles. CryptoLiveLeak's invitation When at last we'd sifted through the usual stack of queries, it was time to open up and ask the really hard-hitting stuff: Where's the best place to get a slice of pizza in NYC? Haha...Prince Street Pizza in SOHO! (Not an endorsement although that is some seriously tasty pizza) The Building Blocks and Chains of The Future We've all heard it: "Blockchain is the future" or some variant of that cool-sounding catchphrase. So who breaks down the blocks, who analyzes the chains? People like Yilun Cheng, that is. Journalists in this space who may have quite the task ahead of them, but never shrink even if it can be a struggle sometimes. As far as a peer review goes, I've simply reported on what I saw - Cheng got stuff done.

A Crypto Journalist in This Day and Age

Photo Credit: Dan Edlebeck " ." she said, standing there smiling. Her name? , Babson student and beyond. Mirza was one of many, many bright stars shining in the auditorium that Saturday afternoon. Their differentiators were decidedly more diverse than simple technical competency, blockchain familiarity, and understanding of what a hackathon and pitch competition are. I just wanted to thank you, thank you so much Ridha Mirza Theirs was a natural curiosity, a fascination with the idea of building on the blockchain. Some had arrived so prepared that it was a source of fresh surprise to my fellow judges, mentors and I. Even Francois, ever the endearing pessimist, had to admit that some of them were "interesting" which earned him more than a few smiles several hours later in our "secret chambers" during deliberation. Now you might be sitting there, several questions on deck, such as: "Who the bloody hell are you? What's this Tezos stuff in the headline? Come on, tell us, tell us!" and like any good journalist I'll not leave you wanting for actionable intelligence. My name is Steve Vilkas and, in addition to being a somewhat humble scribe, I'm a newly minted Tezonian - a supporter of Tezos and this article is my Proof-of-Stake on several counts. It All Began On The Envoy Bit of background may be in order - origin story if you will. I have been a technologist since my father first had me hold the screws in assembling a desktop or pay close attention to his MSDOS creations. I'm by no means a "crack shot" when it comes to programming, and am a simple novice on several subjects, but there's one thing which both I and this article's main purpose have in common. A mission to promote the potential of technology, especially blockchain technology and that of Tezos as the vanguard because of how technology can function as more than something interesting. It can be, it has proven to be in fact simply extraordinary when utilized to its fullest potential. Think of the printing press, the steam engine, and consider now the latest advances of our very own era. Blockchain: It's certainly one of those. Though admittedly a few may argue in favour of breaking its dense descriptions down, the fact undeniably remains: Blockchain is going to be one of those principal drivers of progress, of change which some may embrace and others spurn but still it comes. These subjects and more were being discussed on the 1st of July 2019, on the rooftop of Boston's Envoy Hotel where the local Tezos Commons Chapter had gathered for a celebration to celebrate their one year anniversary. Ken Garofalo, Chapter President, affable and intelligent, turned to me that late afternoon and said: "Hey there, how are you? Pleasure to meet you. My name's Ken...." and from that point on we became the finest friends. Leveraging my skills as scribe and connector, I began to offer assistance and strategies to Ken which led us, more often than not, into collaborations and opportunities of all sorts - from prezos to panels, from mixers to brainstorm sessions all over town. The Pitch, Why, It'll Be Something For Sure A contemporary of mine, --R,  says of event planning: "It's mostly bullshit except if you go about it intentionally. How will you add value? How will you spend the investment of time which the attendees are giving you? Don't simply stuff people in a room with a bunch of booze, crappy music and a nebulous theme to try and figure out.". Fortunately Ken Garofalo had, for the longest time, been a visionary in this sense. He was ready. Garofalo was ready to do something different. One day he came to see me at District Hall and proposed the concept of what was to become the Pitch Competition itself. I had my reservations, he had his, still we committed to give it the best chance as possible. Even in the execution in terms of operational planning and organizational coordination, we were living the philosophical principles and core values of Tezos itself. Every meeting, every chart, every bloody debriefing from A to Z accounted for every variable. The team grew, the locations first expanded before being shrunk for the sake of consolidation and concentration, and then, at last we were as ready as Ken's smile was sparkling on that bright Saturday morning. Photo Credit: CryptoLiveLeak This is Hough We Do It Over two dozen teams, close to forty individuals in attendance, and energy closely approaching the levels at The Hadron Collider (I have taken a bit of poetic license with the last one). Make note of the friendly face in the center of the above photograph. That there is , who more than did his bit to lend success to our event. may Brian Hough He was no mere competitor - Hough had come to help, to learn, in short, Hough understood the big picture (and Hao, one of my fellow judges, noted as much from him, from Mirza, from many in the ranks). I suppose this is one of the most important elements of observation which I wish to make clear in this article: These Babson students, inflamed with fascination and a solidarity of spirit around trying to become better educated and cognizant on Tezos, jumped right in without the slightest hesitation and presented projects which ranged in nature from Investing, Insurance, and Social Impact with several more besides. All the while, Hough was leaping from here to there along with , both of them doing whatever they could to ensure our compeititon was being covered by as many lenses as could capture and as many channels as could provide coverage. I should also at this time accredit Molly Meung-Garofalo of and of for their role in the successful promotion of the event. Dan Edlebeck CryptoLiveLeak Oana Manolache Introvoke All hands were on deck, and so the voyage proved a complete success in terms of fulfilling its expectations and even, it could very well be said, for attracting other net positives in the final analysis also. Mentors, Connections & More Made All The Difference Photo Credit: CryptoLiveLeak Ken had been adamant: "Steve, we need to be very intentional about this. We need to reach out purposefully my friend, and open those doors." and smiling much the same as Ridha Mirza would later do with me, I nodded and set about my work. I first looked to Victoria Yampolsky, whose reputation within the startup ecosystem especially of the Northeastern United States is based on credibility, domain expertise, and an unmistakable desire to help early-stage entrepreneurs validate and build their startups on solid financial foundations. Then to Ed Brzychcy, Founder of Bluecord Management. An Army Veteran and true-blue mentor, who develops within individuals all the skills and strategies which they need to lead. We had Steve Supitux from Clove Crypto, Steve Derezinski with his immense intelligence, and we missed James Moreau who had been scheduled to sit with us. The Crypto Dog rounded out our ruff edges, and at the end of it all we knew we'd barked up the right tree - quite unlike my sense of humour. We'd made connections, we'd found resonance across several different sources. In short - we'd lived what we believed, and matched reality to ideology...we'd proven the case for technology as more than just the bells and whistles which some still, mistakenly to be sure, consider it to be. Together, Stronger So ends my story, with a concluding statement which reverberates from the title to the final period: Tezos is what it is not just because it's proving itself to be a currency of ever-increasing value and stability, but because its stable value is also built upon community.

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