What is a VPN and Why Should You Use One?

You are being watched.

As ominous as that may sound, it is the sad truth of web browsing in 2021. As you read this, chances are you do not run your web traffic through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) right now, which means every website you view is visible to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your IP address is not kept a secret, and your connection is susceptible to malevolent hackers.

Do you really want everything you do online to be so easily seen? No!

Utilizing a VPN is the simplest and best solution to mitigate these privacy and security concerns. So, what is a VPN, and how does it protect your private information and secure your connection to the online world? It sounds complicated, but there are only a few basics that you need to understand.

Internet Browsing is Not Secure

Every time you visit a website, you create a connection between your computer — or other internet-enabled devices — and the server on which the website is hosted. These connections are not private. The data being sent over this connection can be seen by your ISP and potentially some pesky other third parties.

It isn’t just data you send and knowledge of the websites you visit that you need to worry about. Your location is also readily available due to your IP address. You’re saying “Hey, this is what I’m doing and here is where I am!”

In a nutshell, when you browse the web, both your ISP and third parties can see virtually anything you do online and can determine where you are when you visit websites. This is especially problematic when hackers and identity thieves can access your network and view this unencrypted data.

How Does a VPN Work?

A VPN solves this issue because they act as an online proxy that your data is sent through before it reaches its ultimate online destination. Think of a VPN as a tunnel that your data travels through on its way to whatever website you want to view, and when it reaches the destination website it has become unrecognizable. This, in its most basic form of explanation, is what happens when a VPN encrypts your data.

When you configure a VPN to handle all your web traffic, your data is encrypted and sent through a remote server run by the VPN provider. The VPN server acts as the source of your data rather than your home network and hides your IP address in the process. You could be in Philadelphia but to anyone who tries to view the source of your web request, it appears that it is originates from Los Angeles, for example.

This encryption of data through a remote server ensures that the websites you visit and the data that you send to those websites is secure and kept private. Even your ISP will be unable to see this data. This is critical for your privacy, as your ISP may sell your data without your knowledge. They may promise not to, but they do it anyway.

How to Choose a VPN

So now you know that you need a VPN to secure your web browsing, but how do you choose one? There are a huge number of VPN service providers and some are better than others. If you’re scratching your head as you try to figure out how to choose a service to use, there are a few things you must consider.

Don’t Choose a Free Option

I know. The word ‘free’ drips with temptation to the ears of the budget-conscious among us. However, we must think logically about this scenario. A VPN server costs a lot of money to run, so if the provider of this service doesn’t charge anything, then how do they remain profitable? Their most probable source of cash flow is the sale of your information to third parties, which is precisely the type of online privacy violation you want to avoid.

No Traffic Logs

Some VPNs may keep a log of their users’ traffic and other information. You want to find a VPN service that assures you they will not record, log or share any of your online activity. A great VPN service is NordVPN, for their resistance to tracking any user information. They are based outside of EU and USA jurisdiction, which means they are not obliged to collect or provide any data on their users.

Use the Most Secure Protocols

Without getting too far into the nitty-gritty here, the key takeaway regarding security protocols is there are two in particular that you should look for in a VPN. The most secure is OpenVPN, which is a great option to connect from a laptop or desktop PC. However, many smartphones do not support the OpenVPN protocol. In this case, you will want to look for a service that uses L2TP/IPsec. The best VPN services tend to offer both protocols, such as ExpressVPN.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to know all the intimate details of how these protocols work and how to configure them. This is handled by the VPN service provider. The important thing is to ensure that the provider you choose has the latest and greatest security protocols in place. Look for one that offers OpenVPN and/or L2TP/IPsec and you will be fine.

Final Thoughts

Keeping your online activities hidden from prying eyes is critical for both your sense of privacy and for the safety of your data. Your ISP may sell your data without your knowledge and when you utilize a VPN it will prevent this. They cannot sell data they cannot see, right?

A VPN will also help protect your data from hackers who may attempt to steal your data. This helps to mitigate the possibility of your identity being stolen directly by hackers, or for your private data to be sold to third parties.

It’s imperative to do your due diligence when you choose a VPN to ensure that they do not log your web traffic or record any of your data. It is also critical to verify that they use the most secure protocols for their data encryption, most notably OpenVPN and L2TP/IPsec.

Two of the most trusted VPN service providers available are ExpressVPN and NordVPN, but there are several other great options you may come across. Whoever you choose, a quality VPN will give you back your sense of online privacy and security.