Don't Use a VPN...it's not the ultimate security fix you've been told - YouTube

Channel: All Things Secured

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- Did you know that.
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- With this VPN, you can protect yourself
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from all hackers trying to get into your personal data.
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- What?
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Who told you that?
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That's crazy.
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- Hackers can set up fake access points.
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They're able to sniff out any important information,
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steal it, and you get ripped off.
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- That's not entirely true.
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What I was going to say was that.
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- [Announcer] Without a VPN,
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your internet browsing data can be tracked by your ISP,
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cellular provider, ad companies, and hackers.
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- All right, would you just stop?
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This is getting ridiculous.
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- [Narrator] I use ExpressVPN because
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it keeps my information anonymous.
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- NordVPN.
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- ExpressVPN.
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- ExpressVPN.
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- Okay, okay, okay, that's enough.
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You need to understand this.
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There are good reasons to use a Virtual Private Network
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or a VPN, and I'll share what those are in a moment
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but judging by all of the content
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you'll read or watch online,
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you'd be forgiven for thinking that this piece of software
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is the ultimate solution to every hacking
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and security problem we have in the world today.
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Welcome to All Things Secured.
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My name's Josh
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and my goal here is to clearly explain three ideas.
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First, the security you already have without a VPN,
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the legitimate reasons to use a VPN.
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And finally, the things that a VPN cannot do
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'cause let's face it,
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there's a lot of confusing information
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about Virtual Private Networks.
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And if you watch through the end of this video
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not only will you have a better understanding
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of what a VPN can do for you,
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I'll also share with you
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the number one threat to your security and privacy
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that no VPN can protect you from.
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So to help us sift through the truth versus fiction,
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let me share with you five things that are true
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about your internet connection right now
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even if you're not using a VPN.
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One, your ISP or Internet Service Provider
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can broadly see which websites you access.
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So while it may not know exactly
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which YouTube video you're watching right now,
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they can know that you accessed YouTube.
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Two, HTTPS is now an internet standard.
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All this military grade encryption you hear about
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marketed by tech companies is present
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in more than 85% of the websites you visit.
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If you see the padlock on your web browser,
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your internet traffic is already being encrypted.
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Three, despite this encryption,
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our browsing activity is being tracked
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by more companies than you might realize.
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Using tools like cookies, the Facebook pixel cookies,
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the Chrome browser and well, cookies.
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Four, your device is assigned an IP address
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wherever you get online.
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This IP address provides information
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about your geographic location
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which is how online streaming services can restrict content
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in specific countries or locations.
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Five, our security and privacy is a product of trust.
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Sure, we can encrypt our data in transit,
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but what about your login information
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that gets stored on target servers
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or our credit information that's with Experian?
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When we give them our data,
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and sometimes we don't even have a choice,
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we're trusting that they'll keep it secure.
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And that's usually not under our control.
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You have to trust somebody.
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You're either trusting your ISP,
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the owner of the Wi-Fi you're using, the Tor nodes,
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or if you're using a VPN, the VPN company.
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It's virtually impossible to be 100% private.
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So how does a VPN help in any of these situations?
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Well, let's lay the groundwork here
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by discussing what a VPN does well.
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What are the legitimate reasons
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you might want to use a Virtual Private Network?
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Well, the most common use of a VPN around the world
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is to combat censorship.
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I used to live in China
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where the government blocks everything
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from Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Wikipedia,
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the New York times.
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And dare I say, even YouTube.
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A VPN is the perfect tool to bypass
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this kind of state censorship to access the free internet.
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Along those same lines,
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a VPN is a good tool for location spoofing
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which basically allows you to hide your location
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and make the internet think you're located somewhere else.
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The most common use case here is streaming blackout content
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from major networks or geo restricted content
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on platforms like Netflix, Disney Plus,
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Hulu, Pandora and others.
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For example, I'm here in Thailand
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where Disney hasn't yet launched for some odd reason.
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By connecting to a VPN server in the United States
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and paying for my Disney subscription fee,
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I can access this geo restricted content
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as if I were in the US.
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Ironically, the last legitimate reason to use a VPN
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is actually what it was initially developed for,
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for encrypting data.
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As I said earlier,
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internet security has already become more than acceptable.
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And when you're accessing something
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like your bank via HTTPS, which all of them do now,
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a VPN doesn't make that connection stronger,
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it just acts as a safety net.
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The only exception worth mentioning here
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is that a VPN does encrypt your DNS requests.
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Remember when I told you that your internet service provider
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can see what websites you're accessing
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even if they don't know what you're doing on those websites.
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Well, a VPN will hide that information so that your ISP,
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your university, or whatever network you're on
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doesn't know anything about your connection.
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So really all that talk about a VPN
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protecting you from hackers
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and offering military grade encryption.
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I mean, it's a half-truth.
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I think there is value in having that backup security
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for those who are at a higher risk of attack,
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but for most people it's just redundant security.
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And before I forget, let me be clear
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about what a VPN does not do.
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And you may hear what I'm about to say
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and think it was completely unnecessary.
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But trust me,
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these are questions that I get every single day
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in my email inbox.
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First, a VPN isn't an internet connection.
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You have to connect to the internet,
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whether that's on your cellular network,
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your home network or public Wi-Fi,
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and then you connect to a VPN.
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Second, a VPN isn't a cloak of invisibility
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that will let you do whatever illegal thing you wanna do
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while you're connected.
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Every commercial VPN company
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claims they don't keep activity logs on their users,
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but they have no accountability of that claim.
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So don't do it.
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Finally, a VPN doesn't protect you from viruses and malware.
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I mean, some providers have that as an additional service
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but that's not inherent feature of a VPN.
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A VPN is a tunnel that can encrypt every kind of data
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including viruses and malware
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being delivered to your device.
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And that's the perfect segue to my final point here
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that I'm glad you've stuck around to hear.
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As my friend, Ron White is known for saying,
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- You can't fix stupid.
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- The biggest single threat to your online security
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and privacy is not hackers, it's not malware,
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it's not viruses or tracking software, it's you.
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If you're not aware of the common scams today,
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if you're not skeptical of every email you receive
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and every link in every email, I can guarantee that no VPN
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and no antivirus software is gonna be of much help to you.
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Before you succumb to the fear of marketing
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that might lead you to purchase
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this kind of software, know this.
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You can avoid more than 80%
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of the problems people face with their online security
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and privacy by just using common sense.
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I mean, things like using better passwords,
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turning on two factor authentication,
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monitoring your credit and identity,
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and especially being skeptical
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of every inbound email and phone call that you receive.
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If you've made it this far
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please take a moment to browse through
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some of the videos that I've linked to
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in the description below
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that will help you do all of these things better.
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Subscribe to this channel
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if you're interested in more honest clear explanations
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of online security topics like this.
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I hope it's been helpful, thanks.