A VPN, or Virtual Private Network is the ultimate protection for your online devices against the dangers of the wicked wide web. You wouldn’t drive without a seatbelt, so don’t surf the web without a Virtual Private Network. The best VPN providers deliver on all their promises.
VPNs sit in a tucked away corner of the tech world where plenty of people know what they are, and are aware some of the benefits, but don’t actually know how they function. Not many internet users are too clued in on the neat details in how VPNs are able to help you bolster online privacy or enhance an online experience.
The What
What a VPN does at base value, is very simple. It’s a privacy tool at its core, a Virtual Private Network creates a separate, protected network connection for your online device. So long as your device uses the Virtual Private Network, its presence will remain anonymous, and your personal information will be untraceable to foreign entities.
The gift of anonymity that VPNs grant users can unlock other doors, you can also consume content and access information from other countries as if you were in them.
Once you know what it is, there's no doubting why you should use a VPN.
The How
To achieve this optimised privacy, the VPN carves out a protected tunnel through the regular flow of internet traffic. This tunnel is where your device communicates with the internet source, it means your presence is incognito, your data is hidden, you were never there. Credit where credit is due, VPNs are a masterful creation, there’s not an online user or device that shouldn’t have one.
When it comes to getting your hands on that region specific content, it’s a simple method too. VPNs allow their users to change their IP addresses. Once this has been done, you can log into streaming sites from other countries, hop onto a foreign gaming server and much, much more.
The When
Here at What’s the Best, it’s our professional recommendation that everyone has a VPN, and they use it for everything they do. However, there are some online activities where the protection of a VPN is that much more necessary.
Online banking is a no brainer, whether you’re using an app or a browser extension. Our financial information is extremely sensitive, and for obvious reasons is at the top of the list of what internet hackers and threats will be after.
You should be protected by a VPN when you use social media too. The clue is in the name, the sharing of information is a given when it comes to spending time on social media. No matter how private you’ve made your Facebook or Instagram profile, you’re still at risk from hackers and data threats. Once they’re in, they can access the lot.
Any activity with a heavy data usage should seek protection of a VPN. Multiplayer gaming and multimedia streaming are examples where you use significant data, and your devices hold a network for prolonged periods of time. The longer you’re connected to a network, and more data you use, the greater the risk of data breach and privacy attacks.
Jack Barrell is the Commercial Content Writer for VPNs. He's hands-on when it comes to producing best-of articles, how-to guides, and product reviews for Virtual Private Networks. On his off-days, Jack can be found in the gym, at the movies, or flicking through a car mag.