There is no doubt we’re living in the first truly digital age.
58% of the entire world’s population are active internet users, as of April 2019. In much of the Western world, it’s unlikely you’ll meet someone who doesn’t use the internet regularly.
With this new-found level of connectivity, more things are possible than ever before. The problem is, this covers both good and bad. There are more ways for criminals to exploit off regular people, especially those who are not experienced in or knowledgeable on internet safety.
Not to mention, we’re now facing the question of whether our personal data, information and lives will ever again be 100% private.
VPNoverview.com, a site started by privacy advocate David Janssen, has the aim of educating internet users, arming them with the wherewithal to stay safe from online threats. Read on to see why we need to protect ourselves online, and how VPNs (and VPNoverview) can help.
How Private is Your Online Activity?
We like to think what we do is our business. This includes what we do online, the sites we visit, our conversations with friends.
The reality is, we’re putting our privacy at risk by going online. The tradeoff of an incredible invention like the internet is that we begin leaving a footprint. We’re offering up a digital signature of our activity, location, etc. Our conversations are entered into a machine and preserved, where in real life they would just disappear in the wind.
It’s all too easy to monitor us and our activity too, without our knowledge, when most of our activity is online.
Who benefits off of this?
Criminals, for one. Unfortunately there are those who want to profit off of others. This is made much easier when we’re hidden behind a computer screen or a smartphone. As such, cybercrime is a big threat in today’s society. Phishing, identity theft, malware and more tactics are used to harm or steal from internet users.
Then there’s advertisers, who want your information, and are willing to infringe on our basic rights to privacy to do so. While their use of your data may be harmless, it puts your information at risk from data breaches and attacks by the cybercriminals mentioned earlier.
Finally, governments and large organizations may attempt to track, influence or block our online activity to benefit their own self-interests. This becomes a serious threat to basic liberty when countries attempt to filter what their citizens can see and do online, as is the case in nations such as Iran, Turkey and China.
It’s clear that multiple parties have an interest in profiting off of you. If you don’t take steps to protect yourself, you’re going to find yourself at risk.
How VPNs Keep Us Safe Online
The best way to start protecting yourself online is making sure your browsing and internet usage is private.
VPNs are the most common way to enable private browsing. VPN stands for “virtual private network”. They work by obscuring your IP address, which identifies your device and where you’re accessing the internet from. A VPN generally allows you to browse without being tracked, and sometimes encrypts any data you send online.
Once upon a time, private browsing was seen as necessary only for people using the internet for shady means. Nowadays, private browsing is essential for anyone serious about protecting themselves online.
However, using a VPN, especially just any VPN, isn’t a final solution to staying safe online. Education is the next step we need to take, which is the focus of VPNoverview.
The site reviews all major VPN providers, to inform consumers which services are trustworthy, which are the most reliable, and the capabilities of each. Their team has an extensive testing protocol, which results in an in-depth and independent assessment at the end.
The site also offers a one-stop source of education related to internet safety, online privacy and VPNs. David Janssen and his team of writers produce articles on topics such as installing a VPN, staying safe from common cybercrime/malware threats, bypassing online censorship, anonymous/private browsing, and more.
By offering this level of education, David hopes to allow us to continue benefiting from the advantages the internet provides, without offering up our privacy and safety as a side-effect.
