Worried about whether it’s safe or not to use public Wi-Fi? Well, you’re definitely not alone, as 10 out of 6 people believe using public Wi-Fi networks is riskier than surfing the web on your home network.
There are plenty of reasons why an individual would want to protect their online anonymity and privacy. When using a VPN users can surf the web privately and securely with encryption that even blocks ISP snooping.
Nowadays it is more important than ever to have a reliable VPN (Virtual Private Network) service to protect your identity online. A good VPN provides users with a way around censorship, freedom from prying eyes, security, and privacy.
Using sensitive information like passwords on insecure public Wi-Fi networks means that anyone who logs onto that unsecured network can easily see what you’re typing. In contrast, under the protection of a secure VPN, this kind of data does not even exist, as any internet spies won’t be able to see your movements or actions online.
What is a VPN (Virtual Private Network)?
VPNs are the duct tape of the internet. A VPN is an acronym for Virtual Private Network and it allows you to access a private network securely over a public connection.
What that means is if you have a company, school network, or business that requires one of these networks, you can use your VPN to make sure you are connected safely and privately to this network.
People also use VPNs for online protection, because when you surf the web over a public WiFi connection, whether at home or on your smartphone or tablet in Starbucks, someone who is nearby might be able to see what you’re doing and steal your personal information like credit card numbers, usernames, and passwords, etc.
How does a VPN work?
A VPN works by encrypting your internet traffic and routing this through an encrypted tunnel between the device that you are using and the remote VPN server. This protects the privacy of your personal data and keeps it away from others who will want to intercept or spy on it using a different IP address.
So, VPNs are the most reliable way to protect your online privacy nowadays. Since unsecured connections not only make it impossible to avoid snooping but also leave everyone at a greater risk of getting hacked or having their data compromised in other ways.
Why do you need a VPN?
One should always be very careful about using public Wi-Fi. As you are probably aware, there are a lot of mischief-makers out there whose sole purpose is to find ways to snoop in on others—especially those using the same Wi-Fi network.
So if you are not absolutely sure about the credibility of the network that you’re connecting to, avoid browsing sensitive websites or entering any information that could easily identify you such as your social security number and personal emails whenever possible.
In short, in these scenarios, the need for a VPN is essential, as it keeps you away from the snoopers seeking to steal your data.
What is VPN encryption?
VPN encryption is like encrypting files to hide their contents from anyone who may try to access them without proper authorization. Even your ISP will probably not be able to see what you’re sending and receiving through a VPN.
Assuming the VPN server and your own device are properly configured, it’s impossible for anyone else to decrypt the stream of data sent from one point to the other.
Most companies may use 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption method when creating their own VPNs. The Advanced Encryption Standard is currently endorsed by the NSA and used every day in some very high-profiled government organizations across the globe, which is why it might come as no surprise that it’s being used in other services too.
VPN protocols
A VPN protocol is a set of encryption standards used in conjunction with specific transmission methods to create an easy means of sending and receiving information.
The most common cases today are the OpenVPN protocol and the IKEv2 protocol. When you choose which protocol to use when creating your VPN connection, you are able to decide which speed or level of security you want at any moment depending on what’s more relevant for that particular situation.
Here we have listed below all the VPN protocols:-
- OpenVPN
- IKEv2
- L2TP
- PPTP
When it comes to accessing your employees on their devices as well as any data you may need to access remotely, there are two primary technologies that are effective in ensuring security:-
- Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
- Remote Access Servers (RAS)
VPNs have become extremely popular among individuals and businesses looking to manage remote connections. The popularity of these connections is so prevalent, in fact, that they’ve spread out into almost every industry.
While VPN technology is awesome when it’s used properly, this can only be assured if the user has a strong identification badge or posture.
How to choose a VPN?
There are some questions that can help you decide if a company is really secure or not. With the influx of VPN solutions available today, the market can be quite overwhelming in terms of choice. So ask yourself the following key questions:-
- Can you trust them with your personal information?
- Are they using the most recent protocol?
- What data limits do they set?
- What are the locations of the servers?
- Can you access the VPN on multiple devices at the same time?
- In the event of a VPN failure, what happens?
If you’re looking to get a VPN that is designed for use on your Wi-Fi network at home or in the office, make sure you consider the features offered by your service provider. Remember though that all good VPNs will give you far more security and greater privacy than any public Wi-Fi network could ever offer.
It’s easy to see why people use VPNs as a last line of defence against malware, phishing attacks, and hackers. Unfortunately, this just isn’t realistic when it comes to these internet security tools.
Conclusion
While VPNs do provide some privacy, but, they can’t protect against the full range of cyber threats. As the world is filled with millions of wonderful tools that you can use for free to prevent viruses, ransomware attacks, and more.
An antivirus solution is just one example, but don’t let that make your decision about what other digital tools you should be utilizing for internet security purposes.
If you need solutions for identifying malware online or blocking websites from a certain country altogether then take advantage of all the freely available tools that are readily available in order to keep yourself safe while you are on the internet.