You Need a VPN, and Here's Why Take a step back and consider how...

You Need a VPN, and Here's Why

Take a step back and consider how much of your life is transmitted over the inherently insecure internet. Do you feel a creeping sense of dread? That's entirely reasonable, considering the forces arrayed against your privacy. One of the best ways to secure your data is to use a virtual private network (VPN), which also provides some control over how you're identified online.

When your data reaches the VPN server, it exits onto the public internet. If the site you're heading to uses HTTPS to secure the connection, you're still secure. But even if it was intercepted, it's difficult to trace the data back to you, since it appears to be coming from the VPN server.
To understand the value of a VPN, it helps to think of some specific scenarios in which a VPN might be used. Consider the public Wi-Fi network, perhaps at a coffee shop or airport. Normally, you might connect without a second thought. But do you know who might be watching the traffic on that network? Can you even be sure the Wi-Fi network is legit, or might it operated by a thief who's after your personal data? Think about the passwords, banking data, credit card numbers, and just plain private information that you transmit every time you go online.
If you connect to that same public Wi-Fi network using a VPN you can rest assured that no one on that network will be able to intercept your data—no other users snooping around for would-be victims, nor even the operators of the network itself. This last point is particularly important, and everyone should keep in mind that it's very difficult to tell whether or not a Wi-Fi network is what it appears to be. Just because it's called Starbucks_WiFi doesn't mean it's really owned by a well-known coffee purveyor.
Another example showing the value of VPNs is using these services to access blocked websites. Some governments have decided that it is in their best interest to block certain websites from access by all members of the population. With a VPN, those people can have their web traffic securely tunneled to a different country with more progressive policies, and access sites that would otherwise be blocked. And again, because VPNs encrypt your traffic, it helps protect the identity of people who connect to the open internet in this way.
While VPN apps are fairly similar in look and function regardless of mobile platform, iPhone VPNs often use different VPN protocols than their Android counterparts. This is fine for the most part, however. In some cases it may represent an actual bonus, as iPhone VPN developers do the extra legwork Apple requires to use newer, more robust protocols

Today, most of have multiple devices that connect to the web that are vastly more powerful than the top computers of the early days. But the internet hasn't made a lot of fundamental improvements. Consider that it is only in the past few years that HTTPS has become widespread.
This means that, unfortunately, it is up to individuals to protect themselves. Antivirus apps and password managers go a long way toward keeping you safer, but a VPN is a uniquely powerful tool that you should definitely have in your personal security toolkit, especially in today's connected world.

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