Privacy
Why Choosing the Right VPN Provider is Crucial for Data Privacy and Security
25 Jun 2024
•
,
6 min. read
In a world of remote working and heightened privacy and security concerns, virtual private networks (VPNs) have become an indispensable aid for the risk-averse consumer. First developed in the late 1990s, VPNs have grown in popularity to the point where the market is now flooded with offerings, including a huge number of free options.
But VPNs are not all created equal, and it pays to do your research before buying. In fact, some may create a dangerous false sense of security, which could eventually undermine your privacy and security, rather than enhance it. That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide.
Why get a VPN?
VPNs are designed to enhance user privacy and security by providing an encrypted tunnel between your device and the internet. By routing your traffic such as internet searches and downloads through a VPN server and effectively masking your IP address, it delivers benefits by keeping prying eyes away from your web browsing and other activities so that no one can track your online habits. In this way, VPNs can help you protect your personal data, enhance your privacy, and keep you secure even when connecting via potentially risky public Wi-Fi, among other scenarios.
How to use a VPN
When you switch on and use a VPN, your internet traffic is encrypted by the VPN client, and will then travel through a secure tunnel from your machine (PC, tablet, smartphone etc) to the VPN server. This server then decrypts the traffic and sends it to the web server you’re trying to reach. When the web server sends data back to your machine, the same happens in reverse.
Using a VPN is pretty straightforward:
- Open the VPN client app
- Select the VPN server you want to connect to (there should be various options located in different countries)
- Click “connect” or similar
- When you’re done with the session, simply click “disconnect” or similar