How to Protect Your Data: Why You Need a VPN
Usually, users use virtual private networks to bypass Internet censorship and access sites blocked in a particular country. But VPN applications also have the ability to protect users from surveillance, tracking mechanisms, and even hacker attacks that rely on the exploitation of an IP address. Who might need a VPN and why
Codes and ciphers
First, let's figure out what a VPN is. As ExpressVPN defines a VPN, it is a secure tunnel between a gadget that belongs to a specific user and the Internet.
A high-quality VPN application changes the user's location, hides the IP address (after all, this is the parameter by which most tracking mechanisms track us). Let's say that you are in Paris, you turn on a VPN service with a location in New York, and the sites you visit identify you as a US resident. Accordingly, it becomes impossible to track your actions on the network. And good encryption will not allow third parties to access your traffic, thereby ensuring privacy on the Internet.
Online, as in a trap
Remember the feeling you experienced when you first found yourself online (if, of course, you were the happy owner of high-speed Internet)? The whole world, at a glance. You can find childhood friends on social networks. Books, films, opportunities. Information for every taste. You can build your own business, create online platforms based on templates, even without programming skills. In short, there is no limit to perfection.
Years have passed, and now each of us knows that the Internet is not the safest place. There is a risk of meeting cyberbullies on social networks. Online stores may face bot attacks. The information that users see comes from their search history. Thus, you find only what you are looking for. Targeted advertising awaits on almost every site. Who needs to monitor your online activity and why?
Curiosity and calculation
How to stop worrying about data protection?
Constant monitoring of online activity and running programs is necessary. But if you turn on a VPN every time you go online, you need to ensure your privacy. This is especially important if you connect to public Wi-Fi, because routers in public places are too vulnerable to hackers. So, among cybercriminals, it is widely believed that the easiest way to hack is a router, since hacking tools can be obtained for two or three dollars on the dark web. And using such software is quite easy. Therefore, in order not to lose access to accounts, personal data and not to suffer as a result of information leakage, it is better to think in advance about what cybersecurity rules you already follow and what plans to implement.
Many sites contain tiny, barely visible images, or fragments of JavaScript code that elude us. These inclusions serve a single purpose - to collect information about our interests, view search history, and form a so-called digital identity. This information is needed to understand what habits the user has, what he is looking for, what he expects. This is indispensable information for marketers who analyze the data and offer the user targeted advertising or facts based on their preferences.
It is easy to check who knows what about your online activity.
- First, open the toolbar in Google Chrome. Look at what programs are displayed in the list of extensions. Are there any suspicious applications or software that you are seeing for the first time?
- Go to “Start”, select “Control Panel”, then &ldash; “Programs and Features”. If you find unknown applications in the list, check in the search engine whether such software is categorized as trackers.
- Simultaneously press three keys on the keyboard - Ctrl, Shift and Esc. “Task Manager” will appear in front of you. Click on the “Processes” tab, sort the entire list by user name. If you see “Network Services”, “Local Services”, “System” or your own login, then no one is spying on you. If, in addition to the listed services, other processes are mentioned, you should also use a search engine to figure out what they are and what benefit they provide you.
