Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) aren’t just for accessing content you couldn’t acquire from your physical location. These services help with privacy, primarily by protecting data during data sharing.
VPNs make it much harder to track what you’re doing and to associate it with your exact location. They can also encrypt your internet traffic, preventing hackers from intercepting it.
While VPNs are great tools for keeping your data safe, they aren’t perfect, but using a decent VPN with an up-to-date security protocol is far more worth it than you think. Here’s why.
How do VPNs encrypt your data
These security benefits make it worth your while
When you connect to a VPN, a secure tunnel is established. All that data becomes encrypted as it travels through this tunnel to the VPN server. Before it reaches its final destination, the data gets decrypted.
The response you receive will be encrypted by the VPN server, sent back through the tunnel, and decrypted by the time it reaches your device.
I like to think about it being similar to a cloaking mechanism. Your data essentially gets cloaked as it travels to and from the VPN and is only seen at the very end.
So anyone trying to read or check your data during this process shouldn’t be able to.
You’d appreciate this if you’re using any public access points, like public Wi-Fi, where malicious actors might try to intercept and read your data.
That’s called a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack. Some common MITM attacks include IP spoofing, Wi-Fi eavesdropping, DNS spoofing, and DNS cache poisoning.
You can prevent these attacks by connecting to secure Wi-Fi networks or using a VPN to encrypt your data.
If you’re running a business, you can also implement an endpoint security system, which centralizes the devices employees can use and the applications they can access while at work.
Combining VPN use with good antivirus software can prevent hackers from exploiting network and hardware-related security vulnerabilities.
A VPN hides your actual IP address
Exposing your IP address can be dire
Your IP address is sensitive information. An IP address can reveal your geographic location. It can also be used to track your online activity.
Having your IP address leaked or stolen can be detrimental. It can lead to becoming a victim of cybercrimes such as DDoS attacks, phishing, and hacking.
Any malicious activity associated with your IP address can also be tied back to you.
It’s crucial to obfuscate your IP address. You need to make sure every channel that can see your IP address is secure.
That includes, but is not limited to, limiting network sharing and ensuring there are no security risks associated with your router.
For additional privacy, you should use a VPN to mask your IP address. A VPN doesn’t prevent an IP address from being shown. Instead, it replaces your actual IP address with one that’s assigned by the VPN service.
How it does this is by having the VPN act as an intermediary. When your traffic exits the VPN server to reach a website, the website sees the VPN server’s IP address instead of your own.
Use a VPN to privatize your online habits
If you care about privacy, then a VPN is the way to go
A VPN is a great way to keep data safe while in transit. It can also be used to mask your actual IP address to avoid exposure.
A VPN can’t protect you from malicious websites or those that have been compromised/have security vulnerabilities.
VPNs can also help overcome ISP throttling. ISP throttling is technically illegal, but it can still happen if your ISP has imposed a data cap or if the network is overloaded.
Your ISP will intentionally slow down your internet connection to help manage network traffic and may reduce high-bandwidth activities in the process.
A VPN prevents your ISP from seeing the exact activities you’re doing. So if you’re streaming and gaming, the ISP can’t see that you’re doing that while you’re connected to the VPN server (your VPN encrypts your traffic).
However, the ISP will still see that you’ve connected to a VPN (they can see the VPN server’s IP address and the VPN protocol being used), and can still see how much data you’re transferring.
Another reason it is good to mask your online activity from your ISP is to prevent them from building a detailed profile of you.
Without a VPN server, your ISP can see the websites you visit, your search queries, personal information you enter (if websites are unencrypted), browsing history, and the contents of your email (if email services don’t use Transport Layer Security).
They can also see the files you upload and download, and even know whether you are torrenting.
It’s creepy to find out that all this data can be seen and tracked.
Your ISP can monetize that data (anonymized) and sell it to third parties for marketing purposes. The ISP can also process that data to improve services and use it for ad-targeting.
Even methods like Incognito mode won’t save you. As Incognito mode doesn’t stop your ISP from seeing what you’re doing, it prevents your browsing data from being saved locally on your device.
Legally, ISPs also have the right to disclose your data.
If you value your privacy, the best way to minimize your digital footprint is to use a VPN.
Keep your data safe and secure
While VPNs are great for hiding your data and masking your online activity, there are other practices you can do to keep your data safe.
For any app or service you use, always keep your software up to date and use antivirus and malware protection where needed.
Also, be mindful of your online activity and the information you share and store.
