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How Is VPN Changing The Way Everyone Uses The Internet

How Is VPN Changing The Way Everyone Uses The Internet

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.

Internet VPN

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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

Phishing

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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

Internet Scam

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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

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.

4 Most Common Types of Cyber Security Threats

4 Most Common Types of Cyber Security Threats

There’s every indication that the pandemic is changing the nature of cyber security. Online threats are evolving to match our new remote-work paradigm, with 91% of businesses reporting an increase in cyberattacks during the coronavirus outbreak.

Hackers are getting more and more sophisticated and targeted in their attacks. Many of these cyber threats have been around for a while, but they are becoming harder for the average user to detect. Beware of these four common types of cyber threats – and learn what you can do to prevent them.

Advanced phishing attacks

Phishing takes place when a hacker tricks an individual into handing over information or exposing sensitive data using a link (with hidden malware) or a false email. These types of security threats are quite common, but in recent months they are becoming even more advanced.

Microsoft’s recent survey of business leaders in four countries found that phishing threats are currently the biggest risk to security. Since March, 90% of those polled said that phishing attacks have impacted their organization, and 28% admitted that attackers had successfully phished their users. Recently, phishing emails have targeted enterprises to capture personal data and financial information using one of the following tactics:

  • Posing as a provider of information about COVID-19 vaccines, PPE, and other health and sanitation supplies
  • Creating false “portals” for business owners to apply for government assistance and stimulus funds during the economic shutdown
  • Using download links for platforms and tools that help remote teams communicate, such as video conferencing
  • Posing as “critical update” downloads for enterprise collaboration solutions, such as Microsoft OneDrive, and social media applications
  • Targeting IT service providers that ask for payment in order to provide tech support.

Phishing is so effective because it can be very hard to recognize and target individual people, rather than IT vulnerabilities. Yet, they are still ways to lower your risk of phishing.

How to prevent phishing: The best chance to prevent phishing attacks is to educate your teams on what to look for in a phishing message. Poor spelling and grammar, as well as an email address that doesn’t match the user, are telling signs of a phishing message. If an offer seems too good to be true, it is a good sign you’re being scammed.  In addition to user education, you can add multi-factor authentication and other interventions to stop phishing messages from getting through. “Spam filters with sandboxing and DNS filtering are also essential security layers because they keep malicious emails from entering the network, and protect the user if they fall for the phishing attempt and end up clicking on a malicious hyperlink,” said one security expert told ZDNet.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a type of security threat that encrypts a victim’s files so they can’t access their information. The hacker then asks for a ransom – usually payment – to restore access and decrypt the user’s data.

Perhaps the most notorious recent example of a ransomware attack is that of Garmin. In July, Garmin – a navigation and fitness wearables company – was hit by a ransomware attack that downed service for virtually every Garmin customer.  “Hackers deployed the ransomware tool WastedLocker, which encrypts key data on a company’s digital infrastructure,” reported Cyber Security Hub. “In the case of Garmin, website functions, customer support, and user applications were all affected. Unlike typical ransomware software, WastedLocker does not steal identifying information and holds it for ransom. Instead, it renders programs useless until decrypted.” Garmin reportedly paid $10 million for the decryption key to resume services after four days of outages.

Garmin isn’t alone, however. There’s been a seven-fold increase in ransomware attacks this year targeting companies of all sizes. So, what can your organization do to protect itself?

How to prevent ransomware: First and foremost, it’s important to make sure your security protocols are kept airtight – and apply security patches as quickly as possible to prevent hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities. A tool like Nightfall can make it easier to maintain a strong defense, with AI monitoring your network for any issues. Multi-factor authentication can also prevent hackers from getting too far into your system. And, you should regularly back up your system so if a cyber ransomware attack does happen, you’ll be able to recover some data.

Password-based cyber attacks

password-based cyberattack is one that targets users who have the same password for multiple sites. Research from the World Economic Forum found that 4 out of 5 global data breaches are caused by weak/stolen passwords.

There are several different ways a hacker can infiltrate your system using a password-based cyberattack. The most common method is known as a brute force attack. This attack uses a computer program to try to log in to a user’s account by trying all possible password combinations, starting with the most common and easiest to guess options – for instance, “1234” or “abcde”.  Sensitive data like passwords, credentials and secrets are in constant danger of exposure, especially as more companies conduct the majority of their business in the cloud. The highly collaborative and always-on nature of cloud services makes it hard to enforce good password practices. Therefore, organizations need data loss prevention (DLP) to secure essential data from being exposed.

How to prevent a password-based attack: make it easy for users and security teams alike to circumvent the risk of password attacks by implementing password-free authentication methods. This is a type of authentication that requires a user to confirm their identity during the login process through a separate channel. This extra step can also protect your workspace in case there’s any account compromised or if a device gets stolen.

IoT and smart medical devices 

The internet of things makes life a lot easier – and also more open to bad actors. Connected devices are an increasingly popular target for cyber threats. In 2019, cyber-attacks on IoT devices increased by 300%, according to one report. This includes attacks on everything from laptops and webcams to smart homes (like Google Nest), smartwatches, routers, and other home appliances.

Our personal devices aren’t the only things that are vulnerable. The Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University reported, “As more devices are connected to hospital and clinic networks, patient data and information will be increasingly vulnerable. Even more concerning is the risk of remote compromise of a device directly connected to a patient. An attacker could theoretically increase or decrease dosages, send electrical signals to a patient or disable vital sign monitoring.” Healthcare providers must also contend with protecting patient data. As many healthcare providers shift to remote work, they become an attractive target for hackers. Protected health information (PHI) must be kept safe during all cloud-based activities – yet many SaaS providers, including Slack, are not HIPAA-compliant right out of the box.

How to prevent IoT attacks: IoT attacks are sophisticated, and the best ways to protect your devices are to use strong passwords and keep your software up to date. Experts also suggest keeping your devices unlinked from social media.  Along with protecting your devices, look for a DLP partner who can protect your patient data while working on SaaS and IaaS platforms. Check out our coverage of instituting and maintaining HIPAA compliance on Slack and schedule a meeting below to learn more about how tools like Nightfall DLP play a role in keeping PHI safe.


The original article was published at nightfall.ia

Featured Image Credits: Pixabay