Over the last decade, VPNs have become way more popular with home users for unblocking content online and improving your privacy and security while browsing the web. Security and privacy are increasingly a concern for everyone.
You may think that the websites you scroll, the products and the services you buy, and what you watch and download are all secure and private. But they are not. Your ISP knows where you go online, and in some countries, particularly the United States, this data can even be sold for marketing purposes.
Sites use trackers to follow you around, and that’s why, for example, you will often see adverts for products you viewed minutes ago. A VPN makes your browsing secure and private by using encryption so your internet service provider, the government, and anyone else cannot know what you are up to.
Today, the internet is not safe; it has always been dangerous and is getting worse. Privacy scandals, data breaches, and hacking are commonplace. That is why a majority of internet users are turning to VPNs. Virtual Private Networks develop a private network for one’s system while using a public internet connection. VPNs hide an IP address to make actions on the internet almost invisible.
To find out more about why a VPN is essential and other information about why a VPN is worth it, TechNinjaPro is going to provide all the essential details on VPN services that can defend you against all types of threats and why using a VPN is worth it. Let’s take a look.
How Can a VPN Help You?
VPNs allow you to unlock everything the internet has to provide while keeping you secure and safe. VPNs are the ideal solution for making most out of your streaming services websites or being worried about your digital footprint.
It also lets you get around these unfair restrictions by allowing you to connect to a server in a different country. You will get a temporary new IP address that makes it look like you are in another country when you do this.
Benefits of Using a Paid VPN
Depending on your internet activities, a virtual private network can help you in numerous ways, including overcoming the internet injustices mentioned earlier.
Internet Security
A virtual private network can help you prevent prying eyes and third parties interested in your information by encrypting your internet connection and data. Unauthorized entities may not be able to read your internet activities. Public internet hotspots are unsecured because the admin or other malicious connected entities can see your unencrypted internet traffic. They can harvest information like your bank details, passwords, and emails.
You can avoid your information falling into hackers by protecting your internet connection with a VPN. A paid virtual private network offers many security features such as double VPN, protection against DDoS attacks, split tunneling, and is helpful against bandwidth throttling.
Online Privacy
By covering your real IP, you can browse the internet anonymously. Also, if your real IP was blacklisted, you can bypass the blacklist since you are using the virtual private network’s server IP. While using a VPN’s server IP, third parties would not be able to tie your internet activities to your real IP. Cookies, Snoopers, surveillance watchdogs, and advertisers will only track the virtual private network’s server IP.
A VPN is beneficial when you are connecting to a public wifi connection. Internet users can intercept their information on a public network or by their ISP. A VPN will encrypt all your online activities, so even if it does get interrupted, no one will know the contents of your internet activities.
Unrestricted Open Internet
Many popular online streaming platforms like Netflix offer their content in specific regions. These services geo-restrict their content because they can see your location. If you change your location, you can beat their restrictions and access their restricted content from anywhere in the world. The excellent news is that when you connect through a certain VPN server, you get the VPN’s server IP and geo-location.
Torrenting securely
Torrenting is linked with piracy and copyright infringement. Hence, most internet service providers block or throttle torrent connections. In some situations, torrenting sites are inaccessible. In addition, when you use the P2P clients, your connected peers will see your real IP. This becomes an issue if there are copyright trolls. Trolls track your IP and report to copyright enforcers. This is how you get DMCA notices.
With a virtual private network, your real IP is masked, and your internet activities are hidden. Your internet service provider will not throttle your torrent connection if they do not know you are torrenting.
Why is it worth getting a VPN?
There are a variety of VPNs available in the market, and they are not all built the same. It is necessary to do some research to find one that is efficient and worthy of your money.
1. VPNs protect you on public networks
If you regularly connect to public wifi hotspots, you cannot possibly know who’s also lurking on it. How do you identify that the network is valid? There might be hackers intercepting the traffic on that wifi network.
If you are connecting to a public network, it can lead to a variety of security breaches on your system. However, connecting to an open wifi network through a VPN encrypts your information and stops anyone from meddling with it.
2. VPNs protect you from your ISP
Hacking is less of a concern when you are browsing the internet from your private network at home. However, your ISP is the one to watch out for at home. Internet service providers have access to a huge amount of information about you and your online habits.
For example, the United States Congress has given internet service providers to sell your information to third parties. In addition, users often have limited options in choosing internet service providers. Setting up a VPN stops internet service providers from selling your information to other people and making money off of information about your internet usage.
3. VPNs are accessible and reasonably priced to set up
Despite the VPN service you select to use, setting up a VPN is simple and painless. The primary step is to download the VPN software provided by your VPN service for both mobile devices and desktops. After setting up a username and password, check to ensure it is using your accurate location. And that’s it; it is that easy.
4. VPNs add encryption to everything you browse online
Eventually, the decisions you make online are absolutely up to you. However, by using a virtual private network, you have the ability to add a level of encryption to all of your data. This is gradually becoming more important when accessing people’s personal information is becoming a huge concern.
5. VPNs let you change your location
VPNs are beneficial if you are living or traveling outside of your home country. Without a well-known VPN, you may find yourself using sites in different languages because the sites are localized to your current location.
If you are from the US but traveling abroad, you can VPN back to a known location and access websites in your home language. VPN funnels your traffic and protects your identity when accessing international locations on your internet.
6. A VPN helps stop trackers
Using a VPN service helps you hide your IP address. This is like your physical address but for your internet connection and allows those site trackers to do their job. When using a VPN service, your actual IP address is replaced by one belonging to the service, making it much more challenging to track your activity.
7. A VPN gives added security online
A VPN provides you added security online which your antivirus software does not deal with. It helps you to stop hackers from stealing your details and other confidential data.
The threats of using a free VPN
If you cannot afford a paid VPN service, using a free VPN is an alternative. However, there are specific weaknesses and alarms to using a free version. The general phrase, ” you get what you pay for,” validates choosing a VPN. The more you invest in a VPN with a reputable firm, the more your information will be protected. However, you can still pick a free service to use as long as you take the below information to heart in selecting a trustworthy VPN provider.
One of the significant weaknesses of using a VPN is to protect yourself from hackers. However, some free VPNs are available that install viruses onto your systems, which is a massive security concern while online.
While VPNs are developed to protect your information from third-party snoopers, several free VPNs sell your data to marketing companies. Third-party snoopers use your personal information to better target ads to individuals where a VPN is supposed to protect your data. Many pawns off your personal information to the highest-paying organizations.
Lastly, free VPNs limit the amount of data you can use and cover one or two devices. They also do not usually have the fastest speed, so downloading or streaming 4k videos takes longer than usual. Many free services will attract you to upgrade to a premium version to get the data usage you need. At this stage, it might be good to purchase a VPN through a reputable service.
What to look for when choosing a VPN?
While choosing a VPN to purchase, consider the following.
- How trustworthy is the company?
- What features does the VPN offer?
- How much data use does the VPN allow per day?
In addition, look for VPNs that allow you to stream your favorite videos as some VPN services would not unblock services such as Netflix.
Eventually, the choice is not to decide whether or not you should use a VPN. Rather, you should decide how much you are willing to pay for a VPN and what VPN services work best to meet your requirements.
What a VPN cannot do
It does not make you anonymous online.
Contrary to some virtual private networks’ claims, a virtual private network does not necessarily cover your identity. Despite changing your IP and encrypting your information, that website will know who you are if you log in to a site with your username and password. If you log in to Facebook and post something, this data will be linked to you, regardless of whether you use a virtual private network or not.
VPNs do not prevent malware
Even though some virtual private networks have antimalware features, these do not replace proper antiviruses. They generally warn you of dangerous sites but do not actively guard your device against attacks.
Be wary of free Virtual Private Networks
Yes, free virtual private networks exist. But generally, they are limited in their abilities and, in some cases, are gathering and selling your information. They can do this because when your information reaches the VPN server, it is decrypted to be sent to the site you need to visit.
Therefore, it is important to use a trustworthy VPN, as it has access to your private information.
Best VPN Services
A VPN is about protecting your personal information and security online. So, whether you are working remotely or want to keep important information safe from prying eyes, a VPN is critical. A VPN builds an encrypted connection between you and the sites you visit.
However, the VPN market has been booming, and new VPN providers keep jumping into the market every day. That can make it tough to sort through various choices to find the best service to meet your particular needs.
After researching many services, TechNinjaPro has rounded up the best VPN providers that will keep your online data secure.
ExpressVPN
It is one of the most marketed VPN services, and that is for a reason. ExpressVPN is the most used VPN service all over the world because of its air-tight security features. ExpressVPN does keep any types of logs on your internet traffic, IP addresses, timestamps, and VPN connections.
In addition, it will help in protecting your identity on the internet with their top-notch security and privacy protocols. You would not have to worry about connecting to public wifi with ExpressVPN. Even though many VPN services come with a kill switch, the kill switch technology that ExpressVPN has is much more efficient and functional than the other.
Its kill switch will come into action when the VPN connection drops. ExpressVPN will instantly lock your internet by blocking all traffic from all of your systems until your VPN connection is safely secured again.
NordVPN
NordVPN is integrated with a variety of features that you will not generally find on other VPN services. It has the latest WireGuard technology installed in its service, thus providing its users with improved security. Nord VPN directly competes head to head with both ExpressVPN and Surfshark VPN. Why?
It is one of the well-known services in the VPN market by making your online data and browsing safe behind the walls of high-quality encryptions. NordVPN has been tested by security experts on all of the internet and has concluded that it is one of the efficient VPN service providers in 2021 by beating its competitors.
Whenever a user visits a website or uses an application, a log is created by the website, your internet service provider, and who knows where your personal information is recorded. NordVPN has a complex no-logs privacy protocol. They do not track, collect or even share your personal information with anyone and vice versa. You would enjoy secrecy and freedom totally with NordVPN.
SurfsharkVPN
Surfshark is one of the most satisfactory services in the VPN industry. It will not leak your domain name server information and hide your IP addresses with full-proof security. Surfshark VPN has an advanced split tunneling feature. However, the kill switch in the android app malfunctions sometimes. With its massive bank of servers in many countries of the world, it is guaranteed that you will be able to get the right to use a lot of geo-restricted content online.
Surfshark VPN will offer you a clean cyber ocean where you would not have to worry about ads or phishing attempts. With its CleanWeb element, you would not get tracked in addition to the removal of any virus containing files and content.
AtlasVPN
Atlas VPN is one of the most known VPN choices with excellent security credentials. It is relatively new VPN app. It promises an instantly convenient and anonymous internet browsing experience that strips away some of the technical details, specially stuff that can intimidate newcomers and those less experienced with virtual private network services. Atlas VPN does not compromise when it comes to privacy and security.
It offers a safe browse feature that enables you to block malicious sites. Whenever you are browsing with a VPN on and fall upon a site that is included in the blacklist, you will be denied access. Atlas VPN uses AES 256 bit encryption standard that is used by military and financial organizations. When you connect to one of Atlas VPN’s servers, your internet connection becomes encrypted which means no one can see your internet activity.
When it comes to Atlas VPN’s tunneling protocols, it offers IKEv2 which is secure and fast. In addition, Atlas VPN does not keep any types of logs of its VPN users. It does not collect any information or track your browsing activity.
PureVPN
PureVPN also has both split tunneling and kill switch technology. It is integrated with a variety of protocols such as OpenVPN and IKEv2. These top-notch protocols are considered to be the most secure protocols a VPN can hold. It allows you to select between no-encryption and PPTP protocol to improve speed.
PureVPN constantly and regularly updates their privacy policies. Their privacy policy is simple and understandable. In addition, PureVPN hides your actual IP address along with the IP address of the VPN server you are using. It needs to mention that it records the timestamp you connect to a server and your total bandwidth used during your online sessions.
PureVPN holds 256-bit encryption, which is top-of-the-line military-grade encryption that protects your data. It is integrated with top-notch technology to cut the internet connection whenever your VPN loses its connectivity.
ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN is one of the open-source VPN services and is developed by a well-known cybersecurity firm. It also offers a free version that does not keep any caches like other free VPN services. ProtonVPN does not support any kinds of logs, has infinite bandwidth, and does not block any IP addresses.
Similar to other top-rated VPN services, ProtonVPN has the same standardized updates encryption integrated with it. This will not only protect your traffic but will also help you in sharing your files.
Freqeuntly Asked Questions
Free VPN services can guarantee neither the stability of the infrastructure nor the privacy of your information. Server maintenance cost is relatively high; that is why most premium VPN service providers have incorporated subscription models. That way, they can support their server fleet.
VPN services are completely legal because they run on the same servers the rest of the internet uses. However, what is illegal is using a VPN service to cover your tracks of the committed crimes and download copyrighted resources.
A virtual private network is not only designed to protect you while you are on the go. While they offer protection on public wifi networks, they also provide many advantages even in the security of your home. Using a virtual private network from home can help you bypass tough geo-restrictions so you can stream another Netflix library from your laptop.
A VPN service protects your internet activity, keeping you safe from ads, tracking, hackers, and others looking to get a hold of your information.
Yes, If you get a virtual private network, install it on all your devices and always have it turned on. If you need to turn it off for any reason, ensure you re-enable the kill switch when you turn it back on.
Virtual private network services can offer encryption between your system and the VPN server you are connecting to. They can allow you to access otherwise inaccessible networks remotely. VPNs work in a great way to help secure your internet traffic on networks that are not a waste of money.
While a virtual private network makes it impossible for your local internet service provider to inject malicious code into your internet browsing sessions, a virtual private network alone does not protect you against viruses. When using a virtual private network, you need to be careful with email attachments and downloads.
Virtual private network services can be hacked, but it is hard to do so. Furthermore, the options of being hacked without a virtual private network are significantly greater than being hacked with one.
Conclusion
Information is one of the critical commodities on the planet. Online data is sold through various platforms, and there is so much control individuals have to defend their privacy online.
However, using a VPN will allow you to gain back some control over the information you share with your internet service provider and other third parties. So, if you were asking yourself if a VPN is worth it, the answer is a resounding yes.
