Virtual private network (VPN) services help protect your information while using the Internet. Here are some common reasons to add a VPN service to your online toolkit.
Scenarios Where You Should Use A VPN Service
- Improve online banking security. The bank itself has many security measures in place on their end, but what happens with the data when it’s being transmitted? A VPN provides another layer of protection by encrypting data from the start of the process to the end of it.
- Maintain user privacy during P2P transfers. Movie studios, Internet Service Providers and other organizations look at P2P transfers and torrent traffic in an attempt to find users for accessing this content. Avoid this scrutiny by connecting to the P2P platform via a VPN.
- Targeted ads are getting way too creepy. It’s no secret that advertisers have tracking technology installed all over the place. Every website that someone goes to could be loaded down with scripts that collect data on that person. Everything from the places where their mouse clicks to the web pages they visit end up in this data set. The advertiser later uses this information to display ads based on browsing activity. In some cases, they incorporate third-party browsing data sold by other companies into these advertising campaigns. A VPN stops the trackers from working effectively and allows people to browse without their data being used to sell them things.
- You need to protect your cryptocurrency. Bitcoins and similar cryptocurrencies are a big deal, especially when the market prices them high. The Bitcoin wallet is the only thing standing between someone’s Bitcoins and a hacker. But users without end to end encryption could be opening themselves up for theft. A VPN adds another way that they can protect their investment while cryptocurrency is in their possession. Malicious actors can’t figure out how to intercept the data that the user sends out, so they can’t find out information about the digital wallet. One of the biggest reasons why this use case is important comes down to possession. The user must possess the e-wallet to have access to the money contained on it.
- You’re tired of malware and ad-laden online experience. Malware is everywhere a person turns these days, whether it’s a file that looks innocent in an email or a compromised display ad on a website. Even just seeing thousands of ads when web browsing is disruptive enough. Going from an ad-filled to an ad-free experience is shocking in the best way. Users don’t realize how much of the content on a web page is advertising related until it’s all gone.
- You need protection on public Wi-Fi connections. Public Wi-Fi is a convenient option for using the Internet when a person is out and about. However, it gives hackers many opportunities to intercept packets and see what people are doing on this network. In some cases, the public Wi-Fi access is actually set up by cybercriminals seeking a way to easily compromise systems. VPN services encrypt this traffic so that the malicious actor fails to get any usable data out of an individual. They can safely use the access point without putting their data or devices in danger.
- You want more anonymity on the Internet. Sometimes people want to become more anonymous online. Web browsers, social media sites and other services put together a digital profile of people based on their browsing habits. The companies might lack key pieces of information, such as a name or address, but can actually put together someone’s identity by bringing together multiple data sources. A VPN breaks this cycle by routing traffic through multiple servers. The trackers can’t trace back to the original address, which protects that user from discovery.
- You want more privacy over your browsing habits. Even users that don’t want anonymity may prefer that third-parties can’t choose to look at their browsing information. Internet Service Providers have access to this information unless the connection is protected via a VPN provider. Once this data runs through the VPN, the ISP won’t be able to do an invasive search of the person’s behavior.
- The government is censoring your Internet access. Internet censorship is a major problem across many parts of the world. The government or another controlling agency makes it impossible to access certain online resources. China is the best example of this with its Great Firewall. Domestic replacements for large-scale websites and services such as Facebook and Amazon have a captive market of billions who are blocked from other sites. A VPN stops the government from spying on the user data, which makes it possible to get around large-scale filtering and blocking efforts. Internet censorship takes on many forms, from governments dictating the way that they’re represented along to punishing those who fail to avoid these forbidden resources.
- You want to watch region-locked content. Media falls under many licensing rights sales and agreements. Content that is permitted to stream in one country may not be available in another. For people who travel frequently or those who depend on Netflix and other streaming services for their entertainment, region-locking is a frustrating situation. VPNs give users the option of picking and choosing the country of the servers they connect to. The best VPNs offer some of the best countries for connections to popular services such as Netflix or Hulu. When someone wants to use a VPN for this purpose, ensure that it’s one that has a fast enough speed to keep up with the demands of streaming. Options that have slow performance or data caps may not be the best choice for resource-intensive streaming.
The Advantages Of A VPN Service
A VPN service can deliver a variety of benefits in different situations. When someone wants to keep themselves safer, improve their privacy and do their part in getting around government censorship, a VPN service is the right call to make.
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