VPNs have become a part of modern-day life, whether you’re trying to watch new content or are trying to protect your privacy. Luckily, there are a ton of great VPN services you can pick up, and if you’re not quite familiar with what a VPN can offer, check out our longer breakdown on what is a VPN. That said, if you’re still trying to figure out if a VPN is good for you, we’ve collected the three top reasons for having a VPN for you below, so be sure to keep on reading.
Access geo-blocked content
If you’re travelling, you’ve almost certainly run into the problem of being unable to access content from your favorite streaming service. In fact, it can even impact those of us who are sitting at home and can’t watch content because it’s blocked where we are. To that end, VPNs have been used since almost their inception to access geo-blocked content, and that can extend beyond just TV shows and Films to certain websites, such as those that don’t comply with the EU’s GDPR rules.
That said, many websites and streaming services have gotten wise to the use of VPNs, and, in a bid to enforce distribution contracts, have started blocking IPs that are known to belong to VPNs. As such, you can still run into the issue of geo-blocked content when using a VPN, although there is a bit of a solution. Several VPNs, such as Surfshark, offer things like double-hops and obfuscated servers, which can allow you to access geo-blocked content regardless, so it’s always worth trying again if you don’t manage to access content the first time through.
Online Security
While a lot of websites may tell you that VPNs give you a ton of security and privacy, the reality is a lot more nuanced than that. Since VPN services work by encrypting the traffic between your computer and the VPN server, it makes it really hard for anybody to see what content you’re accessing. In a similar vein, it obfuscates where your traffic is going, and since you’re accessing your content through the VPN’s server, the only thing an ISP or malicious hacker can see is that you are connected to the VPN and not what website you’re accessing.
That said, VPNs will not protect you if you still click on malicious links, visit phishing websites, or download things that you aren’t sure are safe. They also won’t really protect you that much on public Wi-Fi, and at most, will shield your data from being intercepted; and while VPN servers are unlikely to get hacked, they won’t stop people from hacking your devices directly if they really want to. That said, some VPNs offer a suite of features that do include things like an anti-virus, blocking phishing websites, and even ad blockers, so ultimately it’s up to you to get a VPN package that fits your needs.
Privacy and Censorship
Probably one of the biggest things touted about VPNs is how they provide privacy and prevent your internet usage from being snooped on. While most VPNs can certainly do that, all security features entirely rely on the quality of the VPN provider and its policies. For example, you’ll want to grab a VPN that has a no-logs policy, so if law enforcement ever compels them to provide their logs, there will be nothing to show. Similarly, you should focus on grabbing a VPN headquartered in countries with strong consumer protection and citizen privacy rights since it’s much harder to gain access to any data, regardless.
Another thing to consider is DNS and IP leaks, which can actually remove any sort of obfuscation you might have had otherwise. Luckily, there are quite a few servers that allow you to test that for free, such as IPLeak.net and DnsLeakTest.com, and even Surfshark has a DNS leak test you can try out. Either way, it’s always good to test with various tools if you worry about your privacy and censorship, and if you find that a VPN is having DNS and IP leaks, it’s worth reaching out to them to ask for help in fixing the issue.
