Normally, no.
The main goals of a VPN would be to:
- hide your tor usage from your ISP
- add another security layer.
If you want to hide the fact that you are using Tor from your ISP, then you can select the “More Options” button on the Zero Trace welcome screen and then select the Option “This computer’s Internet connection is censored, filtered or proxied”.
However, if you are using the pen on your own network, or unrestricted public WiFi; you don’t need this option. Only use Tor bridges if you are connected to a network with an active firewall or monitoring system. Examples of this could be a work or school network.
If adding another security layer is what is important to you, then you should rest assured that your activities will be protected using the Pen’s default settings (No VPN). An untrustworthy VPN can break your anonymity just as easily.
There are many other operation security factors that are more important and have a greater impact on your well-being, so please take care of them first before dealing with a VPN.
If you still want to use the Zero Trace Pen and a VPN, I’ll add a tutorial for this in another module.
