We live in an era where everything we do has a digital footprint. Each individual on the web is monitored, tracked and censored on a daily basis. India has witnessed an increase of 7.9% data breaches since 2017 and in a survey, 52% of the respondents in India confirmed a data breach as opposed to the global average of 36%. Data breaches can be detrimental to an individual or a business because private information like financials, bank accounts, credit card details are at stake. The question is, how can we prevent ourselves from this? That’s where Virtual Private Network or VPN comes in place.
Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are private networks created to connect two or more remote locations with each other. In easier words, it creates a private network that is accessible over a public network, which is the Internet. It helps major enterprises in creating secure private networks, which allows the company data to be accessed by employees on private servers. However, most of the individuals use VPNs to anonymously browse the Internet and make sure their data is secure. So, if you’ve ever wondered whether you should use a VPN or not, let me help you.
- VPN encrypts all your traffic
To be honest, the pros outweigh the cons easily. Privacy is a leading issue in today’s age. What VPN essentially does is that it encrypts all your traffic which leads to your ISP recording indecipherable gibberish that is sent back and forth between your device and a VPN server. You should definitely use a VPN service whenever you are connecting via an unsecured network, such as a public WiFi hotspot. If your network is not encrypted, anyone eavesdropping on it will see your traffic and can mingle around your data. Therefore it is advised to use a VPN whenever connected to the internet.
- Want to break into a restricted Website?
Another use of VPN is to access a restricted or foreign website which is unavailable or censored in your country. This is perhaps a more common reason why people use VPNs: since it routes your traffic through a tunnel and makes it seem like you are accessing it from a different location, therefore giving you full access to the world wide web.
- You gotta keep your data safe!
VPN allows any user connected to it to access the entire network as if it was their local network which allows major conglomerates to help clients access data, and even share files in a closed private network which leads to a safer way of data flow and keep hackers at bay.
- Good or Bad: It’s all your Choice!
Some people use it to download pirated content from the internet while others use it because they believe every human being is entitled to having a personal and private life where all their data is secured and they can surf the web in peace without worrying about data theft and manipulation.
