Increasingly, we read news related to identity theft, phishing, hacker attacks that expose sensitive data, and theft of passwords and banking credentials. But how can we defend ourselves? Today we take you to the world of VPNs to help make your browsing safer.
A VPN (a virtual private network) is the most immediate, effective, and simple method we all have to protect ourselves from online bad guys. In practice, the VPN system allows us to hide our identity and protect the entire flow of internet traffic that we generate every time we connect to a site. And you can download a VPN for windows
Not everyone knows that as soon as we connect to the internet we are assigned a unique geolocated address called an IP address which is used to identify our navigation. Even only from this address, it is possible to trace the nationality, the type of browser used, the geographical area, the type of device, and much other information. Being able to disguise our IP as a VPN network does is already a very important step for our privacy as well as giving us countless advantages which we will discuss later.
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What Is a VPN? Here It Is Explained In Simple Words
As we anticipated above, VPNs are becoming an essential tool for protecting our privacy. Thanks to Virtual Private Networks we are able to protect our connection by masking our IP address, in this way our identity will be hidden from prying eyes and our incoming and outgoing traffic will be more secure.
When we connect to a VPN server, all our traffic goes through a highly secure and encrypted, private tunnel that no one can have access to. Hackers, crackers, but also institutions and governments will never be able to trace your internet activity, not even your own internet provider will be able to.
In the past these systems were very expensive and accessible to a few, now they have been cleared through customs, and at low cost, it is possible to protect your privacy by avoiding attacks and scams.
In the form of a desktop application or simply a smartphone app, in a few clicks, we can hide our identity on the web and prevent malicious people from accessing our sensitive data.
But let’s See In Detail What VPN Means
Imagine funneling all the traffic you generate every day, whether from your phone or your home or office computer, into a tunnel protected from outside attacks. A closed-circuit from the outside but which does not include particular cables or latest generation hardware because it is all virtualized and this all to the benefit of the user who can access a revolutionary technology in terms of IT security.
Simplifying, we can say that a VPN line is currently the simplest and most functional way to protect your communications. With a private network, our data is nearly inaccessible, is encrypted at multiple layers, and even bounces on very different servers.
We used the formula “almost inaccessible” because 100% security, as an old saying goes, is only given by a PC that is turned off. However, it is highly unlikely, to access our data you have to identify the server around the world and that at that given moment is channeling our traffic and you have to pierce this super-protected server
What Is VPN Really Good For?
Let’s see together what a VPN can do and why you should consider buying it. When we talk about VPNs we have to think of a virtual bridge between us and the site we want to visit. This is how the virtual private network works in practice, a sort of virtual bridge is created, our secure connection at the highest levels ends up connecting with an “intermediary” or the VPN server we have chosen which then routes the connection to the chosen site.
So for extra security these days it would be really important for everyone to use a VPN, but it’s not just a matter of mere security.
Going through a VPN opens us up to a way of content that is usable only if you connect from a given Region or Country. In detail, through a VPN we can simulate being in another area of the world and enjoy the exclusive services designed for users of that region or country.
The most blatant example is Netflix, which has a different catalog for each area, country, or continent. With a VPN it will be possible to watch the exclusive contents of another country from the comfort of your seat at home.
VPN Exclusive Content And Streaming Services
As mentioned, security isn’t the only redeeming factor in using a VPN. Unfortunately, in many countries, there is preventive censorship of contents, in others for reasons of rights and copyright it is not possible to watch some contents and some audiovisual contents are sometimes exclusive to a country. Herewith VPN systems, we can bypass all these obstacles.
For example, if we are in highly censored countries such as Korea or in some Arab countries, through a VPN and simulating a different IP we will be able to access content censored by the regime. Or if we are in the USA it is often difficult to access the contents of Italian TV, with a VPN app, in a few moments they will be available for viewing.
VPN Connection All Benefits
We have certainly seen that among the benefits of VPNs there is the possibility of changing our location, changing the IP address, a unique number that identifies our geographical position as well as physically identifying the device from which we connect. A great quality VPN hides our online activity even from our own service provider.
We also observed how it gives access to exclusive content that is blocked in certain areas or regions.
What else do VPN connections do? If you travel often you know well that in addition to some audiovisual content sites such as Youtube and Netflix in some areas of the world there is also censorship for Social Networks or other important free information sites such as Wikipedia. With the VPN you overcome these blocks and these limits by taking advantage of Social and global information without censorship.
The internet VPN also helps you keep anonymous when you connect wifi in public which usually has poor levels of protection and is the favorite victim of hackers. In addition, the Virtual Networks also allow you to bypass any Firewall present in the office or school.
Free VPN Or Paid VPN
If you have recently entered the world of VPNs, you will surely have realized that there are many services, some free and some for a fee. Now we will briefly explain the differences and which ones you should use to travel the internet safely.
Free VPN Pros And Cons
A VPN Free or simply free is a service offered free of charge by a private company that in return may ask us to watch advertising or in the worst-case scenario to give our data to third parties. Obviously, we are not talking about navigation data as much as access data such as email addresses.
Free VPNs don’t have big limits compared to paid ones, they still manage to guarantee good security and anonymity. Our identity is potentially safe even if you are not 100% sure, for sure you can easily bypass blocks and controls that prevent browsing or that involve censorship.
Among the cons, however, we must evaluate some very important things. Almost all free VPNs still log user activity and this is absolutely to be avoided. You have to analyze the terms of service well because this thing is often mentioned, but it is absolutely an anomaly for a service that tends to anonymize online. If our data is stored somewhere it means that someone could access it or ask for access.
Finally, a free VPN almost never allows you to access the maximum speed and usually, the network is congested by multiple connections. Often the download speed of large files is limited and if you abuse the service you are banned from the platforms.
Paid VPN Pros And Cons
A paid VPN usually has a total monthly or annual fee to access a higher quality service in terms of both security and speed.
Choosing a paid VPN gives the user greater guarantees, this is because usually these VPNs, by collecting money, are able to maintain high-quality standards both in terms of IT security and privacy and in terms of data download speed.
While Free VPNs have limited servers and set areas of the world, with paid VPNs you can practically pretend to be anywhere in the world, even the most remote. In fact, they usually have hundreds of servers around the world, super secure and above all, they do not record or save browsing data anywhere.
Choosing a VPN by paying a monthly fee and certainly an additional expense that goes to burden the already onerous costs of our internet connections but it can be the definitive solution for those who want a high level of security and browse in complete peace of mind.
Also Read: What Is Wi-Fi 6 And Why It Is So Important To Have It At Home
