What is Virtual Private Network?

VPN is Virtual Private Network, as the name suggests it is a private network which is extended over a public network. So, users can transfer data using public networks securely and pretend as if they are transferring it over a private network. You certainly won’t wish that somebody keeps track of you and your private/personal data. When you don’t use a VPN, number of parties will have direct track of your Internet activities i.e. the government, your ISP or any attacker.  When you browse using VPN, you make sure that access to your data is limited to you. You can even use browsers like Tor or DuckDuckGo to browse privately. Some people also use Tor using VPN, this will build an extra layer of security to your data. Getting access to your data using VPN is not completely impossible but it becomes difficult to break that layer.

Reasons Why Use A VPN

Here we have shared 10 reasons why you use a VPN. Have a look:

1. Securing data from your Internet Service Provider(ISP)

Your ISP has track of your each and every activity on the Internet. This is because they have to manage all the traffic coming from all its clients. Now, if your ISP is greedy, he could sell all your private data. To avoid such situation, it is better to use a VPN. Other devices like smart home TVs, gaming consoles, and other such smart home devices don’t support direct VPN. Therefore, here you need to keep VPN directly on your router so all your traffic will route through the virtual network. So each and every activity and device connected on that router will be secured.

2. Getting rid of Government censorship

If any country’s government avoids its citizens to have access to certain sites, then they can use VPN. There are many countries across the globe that doesn’t allow its citizens to use certain sites and content. E.g. China’s Great Firewall of China. If you’re travelling to such countries or if you are a citizen of that country and want access to the blocked content then you can definitely get them by simply using VPN.

3. VOIP security

Voice over Internet Protocol is voice calling over the internet. It is cheaper than the conventional method of calling. Although VOIP is cheap, without VPN if you’re under attack, then the attacker can get those voice calls easily. Using the services along with VPN will make it difficult for the attacker to break into.

4. Security when using Public Wi-Fi

You probably fall for free Wi-Fi at public places like cafés, airports, subways, etc. If you use VPN with this public Wi-Fi then no one can access your data neither the administrators nor the attacker if on the same network. But without it, you are vulnerable to attacks. And you should never ever perform any transactions or such core confidential things on the public Wi-Fi without using VPNs.

5. Restrict Google from tracking your activities

You must be bewildered by all the free services provided by Google – Chrome for browsing, free storage in Google Photos, Google Drive, searching and getting real-time locations in Google Maps, etc. Literally all your data is with Google. Well, it does this to target ads particularly and make your search results better. But if you don’t want Google to track your activities, then you should definitely use a VPN. Using a good VPN, you can make sure that Google doesn’t track you.

6. For gaming purposes

If you find yourself in a country or some region where certain games are not available, you can use a VPN to play that game. Sometimes, using VPN also provide speedy connections. You can also protect yourself from attacks like DDOS. Although they’re uncommon but you never know.

7. For research purposes

You can research any critical content using VPN.If you’re are journalist or any government official or a spy and need to research about some sensitive information without anyone knowing, then you can go for VPN.

8. Accessing restricted content on a school/library/college/office network

We’ve all faced this problem or possibly face in future i.e. our workplace network restricts us to access particular content. We can bypass all that by using VPN.

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9. Secured Texting

Although messaging companies like WhatsApp, Messenger, etc provides encrypted transfer of messages but certain apps could not be providing encryption. In that case, VPN is to be used.

Final Words

Your privacy is in your hands- Privacy is the utmost necessary thing to be taken care of. Just like you protect and keep your valuables safe, your data which is presently of no value to you and which you are providing for free to the multinational companies could be a boon to you in the future and thus should be safe, in your control. As Yuval Noah Harari has said in his book ’21 Lessons to be learnt in 21^st century’

“Big data is the future. Whoever owns it, rules the world.”

So, you should avoid feeding your data unnecessarily to those companies and have control of them yourself by using services like VPN.