When you’re outside using public Wi-Fi networks, VPN is a great tool to protect you from other threats. And using a VPN at home can make you access blocked streaming contents.
The Threats Outside
When outside your home, it’s hard to tell which networks are safe. If you’re at the airport, for example, how can you tell which Wi-Fi network is safe? Sorry, you just have to guess. Malicious hackers will set up access points with familiar names to trick people into connecting. Once victims are online, the hackers do a attack intercepting all the information victims send and receive. This includes a lot of your sensitive information, such as social media passwords, online bank accounts, etc.
What’s worse, attackers do not even need to trick you, they just need to trick your phone or computer. Most devices are configured to reconnect to the familiar networks by default. But if the attackers use the same name of a popular Wi-Fi network, your devices may automatically connect to it.
These are why you definitely need a VPN service. The encrypted tunnel that VPN creates can blocks anyone on the same network as you from spying your online activities.
The Threats at Home
In most cases, our home networks are safe. It’s too much work a bad guy broke in, replaced your router, and then waited for the good stuff to roll in. But for another, attackers need more than one successful hit to make an attack worthwhile. The want to rack up as much information from as many victims as possible. Unless you live above an airport, it’s unlikely that there’s enough foot traffic in your home to justify an attack.
But there are threats to consider when at home. The biggest one is from your ISP. The US Congress has allowed ISPs to sell datas of users and their online activities to anyone interested. And ISPs aren’t the only ones interested in what you’re doing online. The fallout from the 2013 Snowden leaks has revealed that NSA surveillance is anywhere. But if with using A VPN, it will much harder to track your online activities.
VPNs Can Be Fun, Too
some VPNs use for streaming instead of online protection. That might seem odd as the VPNs have low upload and download speeds, but it makes sense because not all streaming contents are available everywhere. Each streaming service has a contract to carry shows and music that are blocked in some areas. That’s where VPNs use. You can use your VPN to access content that is restricted in your home country by connecting to a distant server. This trick is also useful for sports fans. Some popular games aren’t available for US audiences, or the US coverage is so annoying that die-hard fans would rather see how the BBC or CBC handles the games.
While many streaming platforms or services are very good at blocking VPNs. One possible solution is purchasing a static IP address from your VPN provider. These “clean” addresses aren’t associated with VPNs, giving you a better chance of slipping past attempts to block your access.
