The internet has been here for decades, and since its invention, the internet has helped to connect people worldwide. Due to the internet, now the world is virtually a small village. Communication is instant, and access to information is relatively quick.
Everyone uses the internet for various purposes. From finding information, products, and watching movies, the internet is the first place people run. However, various restrictions and safety measures hinder people from exploiting the internet’s full power in everyday life.
VPNs have been developed to change the way the internet can be beneficial to various internet users. With a VPN, your access to information over a network is encrypted beyond the common HTTPS protocol.
It makes your access “private” in the sense that nobody can tell what you are doing online. You can also use the VPN to disguise your location and identity. These are five ways through which VPN has changed the way we use the internet.
Security for Online Transactions
Hacking is a common crime in cyberspace. Most hackers target weak networks to read the information you send and receive over the network. Even with the implementation of security protocols, hackers can access user data.
With a VPN, you can tunnel all your communication from your device to the server and back. VPN uses a form of communication protection that hackers cannot access. Even surveillance systems have no access to the content going through a VPN. Therefore, having a VPN on your computer or phone is essential when accessing sensitive information databases or transacting online.
If you are the person who works on your computer and stores your documents online, you might want to use a VPN. You do not wish anybody reading the credentials you use to log onto your cloud storage database, especially now that you have to work from home and share documents online for collaboration.
Protect Your Devices and Personal Data
It is always advisable to connect to a network you trust whenever you use the internet. That is why home connections are essential. However, you can use mobile data for some little information searches if you are out. You would need to visit an internet cafe to access content that requires heavy internet traffic.
However, in some cases, you cannot easily locate internet cafes or charge you more for the services you want to access. Then you come across some cheap or free public WiFi. You cannot resist the free network when you need to connect. But public networks come with a catch. You might compromise your privacy by accessing shared networks with people you do not know.
Hackers on the network not only read the information you send over the network but also have access to your phone. They can see your apps, pictures, passwords, and so much that you have saved on your device. If someone hacks your phone, for example, he can ruin your whole internet life.
Unlock Bandwidth Throttling
It will depend on where you come from. In some regions, your ISP will sell bundled internet packages. It means that you deplete the assigned package and get disconnected until you buy a new data package. Some ISPs give their customers “unlimited” but metered network access. It means that they will tell you that there is no limit to how much you can use the internet. However, they will limit the speeds “to provide a better experience for all users.”
In most cases, the policy is not meant to make anything better. They want to frustrate you with a poor connection so that you can upgrade to a “better” package with faster connections. The same sequence will continue. The “better” package is also under moderation; your connectivity becomes limited after passing a sure cap.
To avoid paying for more expensive packages, you can encrypt your data connection with a VPN. The information that passes through the connection cannot be monitored. They cannot tell how you are using the internet to cripple your connection. In that way, you will have the freedom to use the internet for whatever you need.
Protect Your Identity and Activities
Do you download torrents? Are you comfortable with everyone knowing where you come from, reading your IP address, knowing your city and ISP? I bet no one wants to be identified anywhere on the internet. Yet, torrenting is one of the ways that you can easily get tracked down to your location using your public IP. In places where downloading torrents is prohibited, you may find yourself in trouble if you try downloading torrents with an unmasked network.
With a VPN, nobody can tell your location because the service gives you an IP from among the clusters they use from various parts of the world. Those IPs cannot be traced to individuals because they show the VPN name when doing a lookup.
Featured Image Credits: Pixabay
Technology Solutions
One company that knows about the importance of security and risk management to the health of your business is Thistletech Limited, based in Tauranga, New Zealand.
They can show your team how to build an end-to-end operating model for creating, delivering, and continual improvement of tech-enabled products and services.
