As the common saying goes, no man is an island. A man has been created with social instincts that, however, much they would want to stay aloof or isolated that is a near impossibility. Even though naturally you are a social animal, you also care about your personal space and privacy.
In African traditional societies, folklore has it that man had a community sense of belonging. Even without your immediate family around, you still felt part and parcel of your extended family and community. A school going kid could be reprimanded by an adult in the community if found to play truant or misbehaving. Families and relatives could pop into each other’s homes unannounced and stay on for long.
Well, welcome to the 21st century, where man greatest concern apart from the three basic needs is his privacy and security. Human beings are not only concerned about their physical privacy but also their online. Especially with the hyperactivity in the use of the internet where every business now wants to go online, the privacy of online security cannot be understated.
Businesses, startups and NGOs are now working hard to go global. That means digitalizing your mode of engagement to make operations easier.
If you are always online to hang out, research or engage in business transactions, your safety and privacy should be one of your top priorities. That’s why you need to think about using a VPN.
What does a VPN do?
Not all online users want to be visible and their data accessible by their ISPs. Regardless of whether you are doing an illegal or legal activity online, your privacy should be a concern. This is because the internet also turns out to be a kind of a jungle where online citizens may break the law by accessing data that is sensitive to the security of a nation; or invading the privacy of other people.
VPN stands for a virtual private network. It’s the software responsible for keeping your online activities anonymous. When you connect to the internet, the device you use for connection is given an IP address. This IP address is provided by your internet service provider. Your router connects you to the internet via a public network. A public network means other users are also accessing the network to get online. You are visible to other online users through a public network. Given that your ISP carries your personal data such as your location and the types of websites you are routinely getting access to, your information could be possibly shared with other third parties for marketing or unknown purposes.
A Virtual Private Network creates a tunnel for your data. Your data is broken down into packets, encrypted and made to pass through a VPN server that gives you a new IP address. In a nutshell, a VPN turns your network from public to private. In this manner, other online users are not able to snoop on you. There are many providers in the market today that can afford you VPN services both free and paid. Best VPN services come at a cost. Most free VPNs have been found to contain malware and weak security protocols.
Is the privacy offered by VPNs a sure bet?
The answer to this question could be both yes and no depending on what VPN service provider you are using.
Free VPNs
For Android phone users, you want to think twice before downloading that free Android app on your Smartphone. A past research conducted by a team of university researchers and software developers found harrowing statistics of free Android VPN apps.
It was revealed that 38% of VPN Android apps contain malware, and 75% of them keep track of your information. Worse yet, 84% of these apps interfere with your privacy by leaking user’ web activity.
Free could not really be free after all. From a VPN provider point of view, setting up and running a VPN service is costly. A few factors you have to put into consideration include acquiring powerful servers, hiring a strong team of employees, looking into one or two about data transfer. You also have to look at infrastructure and how much you are willing to expand.
That said, you want to imagine someone giving you a free VPN service with all these costs upfront. Chances are high they aren’t free as promised. Even though you aren’t paying anything your information could be sold to third parties. They could also be tracking your logging activity and bombarding with you endless advertisements.
Paid VPNs
Paid VPNs are not much for the freely given VPNs. Even though you may part with $3-$6 monthly, you will thank yourself later for securing your privacy online.
Some paid VPNs come with multiple layers of encryption that keep your data more secure and private. Their security features are stronger compared to free VPN services.
However, even with the privacy promised by a paid VPN, your anonymity online is never a guarantee. Some VPNs come with no logs and this is kind of to reassure you that your privacy is really intact. While this is a good step in the first place you can’t count its privacy 100%. It is not about virtual private networks keeping you private and anonymous but the fact that they care most about these two important concerns; and willing to not infringe on it. Unfortunately, such VPNs are few.
Conclusion
Everybody wants to ensure their privacy and security online. Some know how to go about this while some are totally clueless. If you happen to be among the latter, consider purchasing a Virtual Private Network from a trusted VPN provider. Free VPNs are better than not using VPNs at all; but still, your information is at risk of being sold to third parties. Paid VPNs are way better since they operate with strong security protocols that offer double encryption to your data. No VPN can guarantee your security online, but they can be professional enough to respect your privacy and anonymity.
