Only a short while ago, a lot of people believed that all they needed to do to ensure their online safety and security is to employ good, strong antivirus software. These days, the awareness of the true state of the worldwide web and dangers lurking within it are much better-known.
Antivirus software is only a small piece of a puzzle. If you want to be truly secure and anonymous online, you will need to employ multiple security measures. However, if you also choose to use a VPN, you will be much safer than before.
If you still don’t know why exactly you should use such technology, let us share with you our top 7 reasons why a VPN is necessary for online security.
1) Your internet connection can suffer from censorship
You may believe that by connecting to the internet, you can gain access to all the websites out there. However, this is not true.
You can only gain access to the websites that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) thinks is appropriate for you to see. In other words, if your ISP believes that some websites should be blocked, you won’t be able to access them, as the ISP will simply block you from doing it.
Such censorship is also common on private networks, such as the one offered by workplaces, colleges, schools, and more.
Using a UK VPN, however, you can simply connect to foreign servers and gain access to the websites that may be blocked in your region, but are not blocked in the region where the server you have connected to lies.
A good starting point is VPNInfo’s round up of the top VPNs to use in the UK.
This is the best way of bypassing censorship, and you need a good quality VPN for it.
2) The websites you wish to access may be geo-restricted
Geo-restrictions function like reverse censorship. Basically, you are not prevented from accessing a site by your ISP, but by the website you wish to access, itself, or an ISP from another country.
If you have ever tried accessing a certain website, only to see a message that it isn’t available in your country, then you probably understand what we mean.
With a VPN, you can, once again, connect to a server in a region that does have access to such sites, and simply access it via that server.
3) Protection while using free Wi-Fi
Free Wi-Fi is great, as you can access the internet by connecting to it at any time. However, it is also very dangerous, as you never know who else might be connected to it.
If you connect to free Wi-Fi, your device may be accessed by another entity on the same Wi-Fi. However, if you use a VPN, the service will encrypt your connection entirely, preventing such entities from accessing your device or spying on your data traffic.
VPNs do this by encrypting your data flow and creating a secure tunnel around it with security protocols, and using one such service is the only reliable way to stay safe by connecting to public hotspots.
4) You are being monitored 24/7
Public networks are dangerous, but your home Wi-Fi is surely perfectly safe, right?
Well, partially. Your home internet may be safe from someone else connected to it, but as soon as you go online, you are under constant surveillance. There are plenty of entities out there who would do anything for information.
That includes advertisers, hackers, the government, your internet provider, and more. They all wish to get to know you. Hackers are after you so that they can steal from you, advertisers want to target you with ads of products you are more likely to buy, and the governments are just nosy and paranoid, so they keep an eye on everyone.
Protect yourself by using a VPN in the same way as you would on public hotspots, as you are truly only slightly safer if you connect to the internet from your own home.
5) Your IP gives your location away
Have you ever wondered why some websites immediately load in your native language (provided that they support it)? Or how websites that are unavailable in your country know which country you come from?
The reason is your IP address. This is your online address that reveals plenty of information about you, such as your location. Your IP is scanned as soon as you access anything on the internet, and so online services know if you should be able to access their content or not.
But, if you use a VPN and connect to a foreign server, your IP gets replaced, and you get a greater level of anonymity online.
6) Get better prices while shopping online
It is not uncommon that major online stores offer different prices to different users. They scan your IP address, and if they find that you are coming from a wealthier region, they raise their prices as they expect that you can afford their goods or services.
While this may, in fact, be the case, it is still not fair that you should be charged more just because you can afford it. This also doesn’t only include online shops, but also travel agencies, airlines, and much more.
By connecting to a less wealthy region, you can reduce the prices and pay less for the same products or services. This is why you need a VPN to get better deals online.
7) Torrent safely
If you have a habit of downloading content via torrent, then you should know that this is a very unsafe way of sharing files. The reason for this is that torrenting is often frowned upon, even though it is not openly illegal.
However, since it is often tied to online piracy, you can get in a lot of trouble if you use torrents without proper protection. It is difficult to know which things are legal to download and which are not, and there is a major grey area where anything can happen.
Furthermore, if your ISP detects you using torrents, it might throttle your speeds.
However, by hiding your IP address with a VPN, you can torrent safely at any time, and be fully protected.
