Protecting your connection to a public WiFi network, like at a cafe, airport, store or library.Keeping your home location or commonly visited places private. ![]() However, there are a number of legitimate reasons you may want to use a VPN, including: Hiding your identity and cloaking your web traffic can seem like something only the super tech savvy or shady actors do. A VPN offers additional privacy by preventing websites and third parties from learning your IP address. It’s true that most connections to websites these days are secured by HTTPS, which means the content, but not the source or destination IP address, is encrypted. Wait, I thought my internet traffic was already encrypted with HTTPS… ![]() A VPN can prevent ISPs from spying on you by encrypting your traffic to your VPN provider no matter where you are. However, your internet service provider (ISP) can track and share your online activities because all the data that you access on the web is routed through your ISP’s network, some of which may not be encrypted. When you’re at home, the risk of bad actors showing up on your home network is lower. And if you’re using an app that doesn’t have encryption - and even today, many don’t - then they can see everything you are doing. Even if your traffic is encrypted they can still see which sites you are visiting. It’s impossible to be sure that someone else isn’t connecting to the same network to snoop on what you’re doing. On the other hand, connecting to public WiFi can be a risky endeavor. When should I use a VPN?Ĭonnecting to a public WiFi network is at times convenient, like when you’re without internet service or can’t get any bars on your phone. Mozilla VPN routes your traffic through a secure server and lets you choose a location from more than 30 countries. That way, the place you’re connecting to sees the VPN’s IP, not your actual IP address, as the source of your traffic. When enabled, a VPN will handle traffic from all apps and software running on your device, so you can browse and communicate freely over a secure private network connection.Ī VPN provider typically offers a number of connection gateways in different global locations, which allows you to use an IP address from a locale different from your own. ![]() To set up a VPN, you’ll need to create an account with a VPN provider and install the VPN software on your computer or phone. Now, however, VPNs are available to anyone who wants to protect their connection to the internet, especially when it’s over porous networks like public WiFi, but it’s even useful on a home network.Ī VPN will protect traffic that you send between you and your VPN provider, whether through your browser, apps or other services. In the past, VPNs were mainly used by corporations to allow secure remote access to their internal services and proprietary data.
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