Protecting your online communications with a Virtual Private Network
Author: Andrew Galt
Almost every bit does travel the Internet unencrypted and in plain sight of anyone caring to read them, except for those traveling through SSL tunnels. Don't know what I'm talking about? A question: have you ever visited a website using the https protocol? Then you transferred some bits through SSL.
But not all traffic goes encrypted. In fact, despite more and more servers and websites are implementing https now, the most of them send and receive plain text bits. And this means an occasional attacker could read those bits and extract information: from personal and location information to credit card numbers or bank details.
One way to protect our traffic from this attackers is connecting the Internet through a Virtual Private Network or VPN. A VPN is a secure and encrypted connection that provides security and privacy once your data leaves your computer. This tool has been used for years all around the corporate world to allow mobile workers connect and use corporate servers from anywhere they were. But there are other ways to enjoy them.
We can connect the Internet from an anonymous international gateway, this means some different things: the website we connect to will think we are coming from the server's address and not from our own home. This is useful to bypass censorship and limitations or to overcome restrictions depending where you live, as we will be 'digitally residing' in another country.
Other uses are, for example, hide our connection from the eyes of someone we don't want to know about us, and mask our digital identity. Think of this: When you connect your home computer to the Internet, your ISP logs each and every website you visit. Without exception. The same goes for search engines storing each of your search. And with all this crappy legislation, you should take for granted you are being monitored to some extent.
Finally, a VPN protects us from really bad intentioned attackers, specially if we use insecure networks, as for example public WiFi spots in the street, airports, train stations...
How to choose a good VPN service
When deciding what VPN service to choose, there are a bunch of factors to bear in mind. First of all, there are some services which works with bandwidth and transfer limitations.
You also have to look at the allowed connections: how many devices you will be able to connect using the service (even if not using them at the same time).
A third thing to watch is the gateway switching, because some providers only offer monthly limited gateway switching, this is, changing from one gateway to another. I saw one which only offered 4 changes in a month!
And a fourth aspect is, if you actually use it, torrent quota. There are providers who explicitly ban P2P torrent file-sharing on their VPN plans. Other providers have transfer limits over torrent sharing, and other providers simply don't mind about that and allow full and complete use of any P2P file-sharing software.
Using a VPN service is not only a tool to access to somewhat "forbidden" websites or content. This is not a malevolous 'hacking tool'. It's perfectly legal (except in countries like Iran...) and helps us to protect our entire communications and keep them away from anyone not involved in them. It enhances our privacy, improves the security of our devices and it's a "should have" tool.
About the Author
Andrew has been involved in online marketing and business for years. Specialized in health issues, he also loves playing videogames, mess with tech and computers and, above all, be with his family when he is not running his business.
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