F-Secure (Freedome) and Avast! (SecureLine) are among the few security companies still in the space. Symantec was one of the first security companies to dip its toe into the VPN pool, but it has since discontinued its Norton Hotspot Privacy product. Don't just focus on price.ĭespite widespread agreement that VPN services are important to online privacy, you don't actually see a lot of big-name security companies getting into the game. It's important to keep a few things in mind when evaluating which VPN service is right for you: reputation, performance, type of encryption used, transparency, ease of use, support, and extra features. Many providers are capitalizing on the general population's growing concerns about surveillance and cyber-crime, which means it's getting hard to tell when a company is actually providing a secure service and when it's throwing out a lot of fancy words while selling snake oil. The VPN services market has exploded over the past three years. But be smart: don't ignore the company's terms of service in order to get around the geographic restrictions for your own personal gratification. Yes, you can change your IP address to pretend to be from someplace else in order to access content that may be restricted on a geographic basis. VPN services are very useful and we highly recommend using them to protect your online activity from malicious snoops. Of course, that may be against the law in countries with strict censorship, so be careful. There are activists who rely on VPN services to get around government censors to communicate with the outside world. There are several reasons why you should use VPN services: to change your IP address to something else, to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on your online activity while you are connected to Wi-Fi networks, and to make it harder for online advertisers to track you. As with anything else on the Internet, don't do anything stupid. VPN services, while tremendously helpful, are not fool-proof. Just as the person who was following you could figure out where you went if he or she happened to be at the supermarket when you got out of the car, there are complicated timing algorithms that can figure out your activity at the exact moment you leave the encrypted tunnel. There is a caveat to this metaphor, though. With a VPN service, you are essentially driving into a closed parking garage, switching to a different car, and driving out, and no one who was originally following you knows where you went. Think about it this way: if your car pulls out of your driveway, someone can follow you and see where you are going, how long you are at your destination, and when you are coming back. The VPN service is essentially the same idea, except the VPN provider is not letting you have access to its network, but rather offering secure access to the Internet. All your network traffic passes through this protected tunnel, and no one in the hotel you are staying in can see what you are up to. This tunnel essentially makes you part of the company's network, as if you are physically sitting in the office. In simplest terms, you are creating a secure, encrypted connection between your computer and your company's VPN server. What's a VPN service? If you've ever had to connect to a corporate network while working remotely, you may already be familiar with the technology. The hard part is figuring out which one to use. Since you never know who might be virtually looking over your shoulder at what you are up to, a virtual private network (VPN) service is something you really need to protect your identity and preserve your privacy. It's also gotten easier than ever to find a public Wi-Fi hotspot in places like airports, coffee shops, libraries, and public parks. Advertisers, nation-state adversaries, neighbors, cyber-criminals, even our own government. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security SoftwareĮveryone is watching what you do online.
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