“ You get a VPN, You get a VPN… ”

Everybody gets a VPN! I seem to always include the use of VPN’s in my tips for staying safe online but never offer any good options. Well, your boy has been working on something for you guys – so be patient and look out for future blogs (spoken like a true politician)! 

Now that the majority of us are working from home, you definitely (I hope) have to use a VPN in order to connect to your company’s network to actually do work. The main reason VPN’s are used is that it creates a secure path for us to access data and use company applications. But, how is a VPN able to do this?

Fun Fact : VPN’s are currently banned in 10 countries

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides a way for people to keep their online identities private whilst also sending their internet activity through an encrypted connection (this stops people from seeing what you’re up to). 

Some Technical lah-di-da-di 

You might be thinking, how does a VPN work? Or you might not, but I’m going to tell you anyway. When connecting to a VPN, it will route your internet connection through a VPN server instead of your ISP (internet service provider e.g. BT/Sky/Virgin). The traffic will still go through your ISP, but it won’t be able to read what you’re sending. The websites you visit also won’t be able to see your IP address (location) because you’ll be using the IP address of the VPN server. A VPN uses tunnelling as a way to protect your information, whereby your data is transported securely through a process called encapsulation** which makes it very difficult for hackers, Boris Johnson and your ISP to see what you’re trying to do. However, in some countries, they restrict access to websites if they know you’re using a VPN. 

Enough of that mumbo-jumbo, if you’re a person that values their privacy then a VPN is a sure way of protecting your online identity. There are some perks to using a VPN, such as it changes your location, which means that you can access geo-locked content. If you’re a frequent flyer and hotel hopper like me you may see better flight deals because you’re connected to a VPN. Also, for all us UK folk, we can finally get our hands on that American Netflix (allegedly). But ultimately, the main benefit of a VPN is to boost security and protect us against attacks such as man-in-the-middle and evil-twin.

I’m really trying to make privacy more important to us all and I think that a VPN is a great way to start doing this. However, choosing a good VPN is just as important. I would steer clear from the free ones as they tend to use weak encryption ciphers***, or they tend to track your online activity which ultimately defeats the purpose of a VPN. As I said before, I have something in store for you guys so stay tuned for a blog on choosing a good VPN and how to set one up on your devices. 

Love & Guidance

TT

*featured image taken from oprahdaily.com

**It’s a mechanism to hide data 

***This is an algorithm used to encrypt and decrypt data