As our reliance on technology increases and the presence of personal data online continues to grow, it is important to be sure that your data and privacy are protected. A VPN allows you to create a secure network connection virtually anywhere while maintaining your privacy and encrypting your data to ensure it is safe.

What is a VPN?

A VPN, or a virtual private network, is the technology that allows you to maintain privacy and anonymity while accessing a public network. A VPN masks your IP address so that your online activities remain untraceable while simultaneously establishing a secure and encrypted connection. This allows you to have a higher level of privacy and security than you would find even on a secured Wi-Fi connection.

The VPN is able to do this by creating a data tunnel between your local network and a node in another location, giving the appearance that you are somewhere else. It also uses encryption to scramble all data that is sent over the Wi-Fi network, preventing anyone else from accessing your data.

Benefits of VPN

So why do you need a VPN? The obvious answer is privacy, but there are other important benefits to a VPN including data encryption and data security.

Privacy

Most people don’t realize that your internet service provider can access all of your online activity thanks to your unique IP Address. While it is unlikely that someone is monitoring your activity at all times, many service providers compile browsing logs and sell them to third party marketers and advertising companies. This allows them to target advertisements based on your browsing history and even geographic location.

In fact, anyone that is able to capture your IP address can access your location and internet search history. A VPN uses an IP address that is different from your own, allowing you to carry out your online activity with the peace of mind that your history cannot be traced back to you or sold to third parties.

While you may be wondering why changing the appearance of your geographic location is important, consider companies that use location to limit or redirect your activities. Websites such as Netflix and Hulu cannot be accessed in certain areas of the world, so if you are traveling overseas you may not be able to watch your favorite shows. If you use a VPN, however, you circumvent this limitation and can access your sites as you would from home.

Encryption

Encryption is another reason you need a VPN. Most of us spend quite a bit of time shopping or paying bills online, which means our personal banking and other identifying information is at risk. This is a huge target area for identity thieves, as they can access things like your credit card number as it is sent through a network – without you even realizing it.

If you store credit cards and bank information on your phone, it is at risk anytime it automatically connects to a Wi-Fi network. Since it is unreasonable to avoid using public Wi-Fi connections permanently, a VPN can be used as a safe alternative to protect your data.

The VPN creates an encrypted tunnel for your data to flow through, preventing hackers and thieves from stealing it, but even if a hacker somehow got through the data would be meaningless because of the encryption.

Some other benefits of VPN encryption include authenticating senders to prevent unauthorized use of the VPN and data integrity so that you can detect instances of tampering.

Security

While it goes hand in hand with privacy and data encryption, increased security is also an added bonus to using a VPN. The use of a virtual private network can protect your devices from malware that is being transmitted through a network and can also help you avoid phishing scams.

This feature is especially useful for businesses and remote workers who want to protect their information. In fact, most employers require the use of VPN to access company information remotely – a benefit that can and should be translated to your personal information stored at home.

As you can see, there are many reasons as to why you need a VPN. Start using Xeovo VPN today so you can protect your privacy and data, as well as remain in control of who and what has access to your information.