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For people who are less familiar with the term, a VPN is a Virtual private network and offers you extra online privacy. The service encrypts your data and guides it through a kind of tunnel. This creates a private network between your connection and the vpn servers. In a time when we are followed by all kinds of tech giants, using a VPN is certainly a solution. Why exactly should you use a VPN?
Marketing companies know everything
Tech companies know everything about us. They often use data about our behavior, movements, social relationships, interests and weaknesses for marketing purposes. In this way, potential customers are approached in a more targeted manner. It is no coincidence that you suddenly see all kinds of advertisements for houses when you have looked on Funda for fun. Your connection has been logged, cookies have been placed and the advertiser knows exactly what kind of person is behind the computer.
It’s easy to imagine that not everyone likes that idea. By using a VPN you become a lot more anonymous. With a VPN you often connect abroad, which makes your precise location a lot more difficult to determine. It is also more difficult to create a profile of the user. For a Dutch advertiser it is actually worthless if a user connects from abroad.
To protect your privacy, it is important that you also take other additional measures. For example, consider using a good ad blocker. An ad blocker blocks advertisements so that you can surf undisturbed.
Online activities are encrypted
We all do things that we shouldn’t do sometimes. We’ve all watched a movie or downloaded a game illegally. There has been a download ban since 2014. So in principle you can get a fine. With a VPN you are better protected; you can be more difficult to track. Your real IP address is hidden.
A good VPN provider does not keep track of everything you do and certainly does not pass it on to third parties (such as governments). Choose a provider with a no-log policy, so that you can be sure that it does not store any information about users’ online activities.
And if you do something that is legal, but you simply don’t want anyone else to know, a VPN is of course also a good option. Or if you just don’t want to be followed, of course.
Less susceptible to hackers
By using a VPN, your data is encrypted. And that is difficult for hackers, because they mainly use data that is not encrypted. Your data goes raw through a tunnel, is encrypted there and is decrypted again when it arrives at the website you visit. Even at that point, hackers can’t get to it. With a VPN you become a lot less interesting, but it is good to remember that malicious parties always find new ways to eavesdrop on you.
The idea is that with a VPN you do not use the usual connections on your router. This means that viruses installed on the router by malicious parties cannot access your files. A VPN has encryption that cannot be easily broken.