Introduction

Picture this; the year is 2020. People store their most sensitive data online. They blindly trust that their information is safe, and they do nothing to protect it. Criminals can hack into these people’s computers and steal all of their information, ruining their lives.

This isn’t the plot to a dystopian movie; this is real life.

Cyber Attacks

Cyber attacks are happening every day, and few people do anything to stop it. Even on the heels of enormous data attacks last year, people were mostly unphased. 7.9 billion consumer records were hacked into last year, which is terrifying. It might just be the case that people aren’t familiar with using a VPN.

Why is VPN Useful?

A VPN is a means of protecting someone when they’re online.

A way to think about life online is someone driving an empty bus. Every time that person performs any action online, they get a passenger to walk into the bus. That passenger has a briefcase with invoices, receipts, time spent on the page, and pages the driver visited. The big problem is that passengers will never get off the bus. Every new page clicked online equals a new passenger on the bus.

There are a few problems with this situation. First off, the briefcases have no locks on them. Whoever holds them, can open it and look through all of the documents.

This leads to the second point. The documents enclosed are incredibly private and sensitive. They could contain Social Security and credit card numbers, a huge list of transaction history, as well as a timestamp of every site ever visited.

Some people may not see this as an issue. As long as they’re driving the bus and they keep the door closed, why should they have to worry?

Well, if the driver did anything illegal and the police pull them over, the police can look in every single briefcase on that bus. Even worse, if a criminal hijacks the bus, they can take every briefcase for themselves.

This is where a VPN comes in. A VPN acts as a second, unregistered, self-driving bus.

Now, when the user makes an interaction online, the passenger goes into the self-driving bus with their briefcase. The internet user’s bus will stay empty at all times.

The other key point is that these passenger’s briefcases will be mostly empty. There will be no names registered to the information. All of the sensitive information will be encrypted and unreadable.

VPN is a Universal Concept

All across the globe, people care to protect their sensitive information. Luckily, a VPN is not region-specific. In other words, an American can use a VPN server in Australia. Due to the different levels of technology across the world, a lot of people are recommending Indian VPN server. The reason is that India has a huge infrastructure set up in the technology space.

Using a VPN server from another country takes yet another step to protect the user. Since it creates another step between the user and the information, it keeps them even safer.

Who is a VPN for?

This is not to be misconstrued, though. A VPN is not just for criminals or want to stay invisible as they break the law. In fact, the most notorious online criminal was found and arrested despite his VPN usage. No, a VPN is not for criminals.

A VPN should ideally be used for anyone who uses the internet. It keeps information private and keeps people safe.

Ultimately, it’s taking matters into one’s own hands. It’s been proven time and time again that companies do not value customer information as much as the customers do. They don’t take the necessary precautions. This leads to breach after breach of customer information over the years.

The way a customer’s information stays safe is if the customer keeps it safe. A VPN should be used by anyone who accesses the internet.

Other Uses for a VPN

A VPN is not just used to keep data secure, there are actually a lot of uses.

Some countries have very strict restrictions on their internet usage. For example, over the years different countries completely blocked the use of Facebook. They use geo-tags to block a user’s access to the site based on their physical location. One of the things that a VPN does is strip away a user’s geo-tags. Someone in a country that blocks a site can still access the site using a VPN.

Another common use of a VPN is done in the company’s offices. By having a VPN set up, the workers can go home and access their computer. It works on the same principle as a Facebook blockage. The VPN confuses the workstation, making it think it’s still in the office. A VPN lets office workers work from home without any problem.

Sometimes sites like Netflix, Hulu, or Pandora only allow people in a certain country to enjoy certain content. This can get frustrating and oftentimes it’s due to contract agreements. This is yet another place where a VPN shines. The user can put on their VPN mask and access content that would otherwise be inaccessible from continents away.

Conclusion

Overall there are a lot of interesting facts and uses for VPNs. They protect people from cyberattacks, they keep everyone’s data safe, and they keep hackers away from the user’s sensitive information.

VPNs have use for anyone who accesses the internet. It can help people in countries that have internet restrictions, help office workers work from home, and allow people to view content from other countries. It’s a very interesting technology, and as the world develops there’s sure to be more uses for it.