By VPN or Virtual Private Network is a renowned acronym among the regular internet users. It was originally used within businesses to connect to a corporate network securely. But today, it can be used by any kind of user for anonymous browsing, shielding their privacy and stopping the ISPs and government agencies to track their online activities to catch the users who are sharing files or torrenting illegally or even trying to get access to the geo-restricted content like Netflix, Hulu and much more. With the rise of internet security threats, it is of no concern which device are you using. It can be a PC, MAC, iPhone, tablet, Android device etc. the risk is always the same.
Who needs a VPN?
A VPN can provide a number of benefits and is dependent on your internet activities it can sometimes prove to be mandatory. A VPN service lets you to hide your physical location to change IP address assigned by your ISP or Internet service provider in the first place. Also, VPN offers a basic level of security and confidentiality as all the information to and from your device is encrypted. This keeps away the hackers or ISPs from monitoring your online activities. VPN can be used for following activities.
- Hide your internet activities from your ISP and government.
ISPs all around the world unofficially monitor the user traffic to intercept the sensitive or top secret information. More than 41 countries are now deemed the Five Eyes, it is a global intelligence alliance that monitors electronic information and private communication channels (VPNs). The NSA or National Security Agency was unleashed spying on hundreds of VPN connections which were based on Cisco’s PIX Firewalls.
- Accessing geo-restricted content
A prime delineation is accessing the US based Netflix or Hulu when you are travelling overseas or access sites for video streaming etc. from any location around the world. Bypassing the web filters and access to the restricted websites or internet services like online gaming, Dropbox, Skype etc. Government has also banned torrent sites, so the users have begun using VPN to access these sites with no restrictions whatsoever.
- Peer to peer or P2P File Sharing
It is usually blocked by firewalls or ISPs, which compels people to use the VPN and ToR based networks to access and freely share data with other users without any worries about being tracked or blocked.
