Suggestion to stop VPN services is full of short-sightedness?
The government of India has been asked to ban the use of VPN services by the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs. The committee says that by using Virtual Private Network services, cybercriminals can hide their identities and avoid arrest. According to the committee, the Indian government needs to develop a mechanism to permanently ban these services.
According to an August 2017 judgment of the Supreme Court, in today’s digital age, privacy and internet freedom is fundamental rights. Internet Service Providers (ISPs), governments, and generally all websites monitor all our activities related to the Internet. Our data is collected and processed every moment by various service providers.
While browsing on mobile and computer, in the office, while buying a product or service, by the government, by corporate companies, even while on the go! Through this database, companies get to know their actual customer segment. At the same time, governments keep an eye on the Internet to curb illegal activities and prevent cybercrimes. But, technology has never stopped for anyone. Therefore, because of privacy, data protection, and internet freedom, many Virtual Private Network services have arrived.
Today, most companies and employees in various professions rely on encryption to ensure the privacy and security of not only themselves but also their sources. So they have been able to continue the service of secure communication through Virtual Private Network services.
What is VPN?
With a Virtual Private Network, you can connect to any digital resource while protecting your communications from third parties.
While drinking your coffee, you sit in a coffee shop, and you want to connect to the server of a company and do some work. Two options are available to you.
- Mobile data plan: You can start reading with your phone connected. You could run into trouble if you’ve exhausted your monthly data allowance.
- Free Wi-Fi is available at many cafes, restaurants, shopping centers, and other places. It costs nothing, but your privacy is of little concern.
Financial and privacy issues can be solved simultaneously with a Virtual Private Network. You can connect anywhere you have your username and password if you pay a small monthly fee. Your device opens up a secure, encrypted tunnel to the VPN once you are connected. This tunnel acts like insulation, so you don’t have to worry about hackers, governments, or ISPs hacking your communication.
Most Virtual Private Network users use this method due to security concerns. The majority of them are concerned about data theft and feel safer when their privacy is protected and defended. VPNs can also assist with:
- Privacy generally. Your service provider might not want access to your sensitive searches, but you do not have to worry about identity theft.
- Restriction bypass. It is your responsibility to follow the rules of the server you are using. It is possible to be unable to download music or search for certain types of content when using public Wi-Fi, for example. By using a Virtual Private Network, you can bypass these restrictions.
- Stable connection. There is no way to control the speed of a public server, and a slow connection can cause downloads to fail or not start at all. When you use a Virtual Private Network, you can be assured of a smooth, consistent experience.
Every individual decides to shield their activity, but there are plenty of reasons for moving to Virtual Private Network, so you’re certainly not alone if you’re considering it.
VPN Terms to Know
Businesses use VPN technology to protect their data. You might feel a little lost when IT professionals mention VPN, and their tossing around of terms can make you feel a little daunted. Definitions can give you a sense of security.
VPN vendors may use the following terms:
- Encryption: In this method, data is processed through an algorithm, which scrambles it into a form that can be transported from one server to another, and finally, it is decoded.
- IP address: Your device and its location are uniquely identified by numbers and periods.
- IP count: An IP address is the number of addresses available to the provider.
- IPSec: A VPN connects two points privately with the help of Internet Protocol Security, or IPSec.
- ISP: The Internet is connected to you through your internet service provider (or ISP).
- Proxy: Many companies that offer VPN services also provide simple proxy services. These are not the same thing. Proxies hide your actual IP address from websites and other resources you might visit.
- VPN client: If you do not understand the acronyms your potential vendor uses, ask them for clarification before you sign up. It is software on your device that makes connecting to your VPN quickly and easy.
VPN services are essential for privacy
Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has suggested the government ban the use of VPN services in India. The committee says that by using VPN services, cybercriminals can hide their identities and avoid arrest. According to the committee, the Indian government needs to develop a mechanism to permanently ban these services.
The contention of the committee that only criminals use VPN services is entirely wrong. A VPN (a virtual private network) is the equivalent of a firewall protecting your computer’s data online. In such a situation, if the government bans VPN, then it will have a profound impact on our economy and the fundamental rights of citizens. We need to understand that VPN not only protects personal information from theft but also removes the possibility of cyber crimes to a great extent.
We surveyed people about online safety and privacy during the golden age of data security awareness.
We asked several questions in our research, including which countries use VPN services. Who uses the Dark Web? And which governments request the most personal data from Google? Our results were both surprising and troubling.
More than one-half of Americans (78%) don’t know what their government does with their information. However, Generation Z doesn’t care so much – even though their exponentially greater online presence exposes them to a great deal of risk, they’re least concerned with data protection.
Different people understand digital privacy uniquely. In a recent poll, web users were asked, “What do you understand by digital privacy?” In general, most respondents agreed that giving individuals control over their personal information is a key element to the entire process.
Using one of the best VPNs is a good way to keep your online activity protected. Although it seems like most people lack privacy control online, there are several ways to do so.
I find it troubling that the respondents in this poll have essentially equalized private corporations and the government in terms of controlling citizens’ sensitive information.
Citizens in many different countries are measured by the Freedom House Index, which shows how free their Internet is. Top-scoring countries are those that allow users to use the web with the least amount of restriction, which scores 100 index points. Accordingly, citizens of countries scoring low on this measure experience great restrictions on online activity, so their use of VPNs is higher, allowing citizens to watch YouTube, access Facebook, and search Google freely.
Many governments have requested information on the data and activities of users regardless of whether companies have privacy policies or users assume they are private. The U.S. government has asked Google for data several times since 2012, and Google is one of those companies.
The opinion of registered voters on privacy was polled. In a survey asking which generation was most concerned about legislation that will protect consumer data (same as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation for short), the Baby Boomer generation rated it as being the most important.
In contrast, Generation Z was by far the least concerned, probably because they came of age at a time when little to no privacy expectations existed.
Data privacy and VPN use have strong correlations, as you might expect. In addition, VPNs make it very hard for hackers and/or third parties to track your online activities by using a separate server for internet access.
The VPN industry is a global phenomenon. Others just want their privacy online, while others desire more choices when it comes to streaming sites; some want the opportunity to even access sites that are viewed as ‘basic’ or ‘essential’ by their counterparts in other countries.
No matter the numerous reasons consumers use VPNs, there is one thing that they have in common: We can honestly state it is not surprising that many or even all of those reasons lead to the biggest markets for the industry to be located there.
While VPNs are among the fastest-growing market segments, the picture is somewhat different in the fastest-growing markets. Using our internal data sources, we can see that users from Slovakia are particularly interested in the service, and they have increased by over 300% in the past year. Other countries like Spain, South Africa, and Japan are also showing an increasing interest in the service.
Although non-tech savvy people often confuse the Deep Web and the Dark Web, the Dark Web is a very small portion of the latter. There are several ways to access the Dark Web, including the Onion Routing project (TOR) and the Invisible Internet Project (I2P). Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can help protect your privacy while using these portals, but using them does not mean they are illegal or morally questionable.
India ranks among the highest in using technology that provides access to the Dark Web, with only 12% of internet users worldwide admitting to doing so.
Rather, many people insist that their main goal is privacy instead of engaging in illegal activities with these technologies. It is commonly stated among those who do not use these technologies that they simply are unfamiliar with them.
What Type of Person Uses a VPN?
Based on the demographic breakdown of internet users, we can parse out the profile of an average VPN user. A VPN is more common among men ages 25-34 than among women, and those residing in Europe and Asia use them more frequently than those in Africa and Australia. How do you rate?
How does VPN work?
When we connect to a VPN server, our internet traffic passes through an infected tunnel that cannot be seen by anyone, neither governments nor hackers or cybercriminals. A web server or Internet Service Provider (ISP) connects us to the website when we visit a website without a VPN. The Internet service provider company gives us a unique IP address from which it can track our online activities.
Since the company that provides the Internet connection handles all our traffic, it can trace the websites we visit, watch and download something. She will also have our demographic data, which she analyzes and sends advertisements of our favorite things. When we connect to the Internet via VPN, the VPN client on our device provides a secure connection through the VPN server and cannot see its final destination.
In such a situation, when we visit a website, the Internet Service Provider is not able to see our original IP address and location. So with the help of a VPN, we can maintain our privacy.
When you browse online with a VPN, the VPN server becomes your source of all data. It hides your IP address by redirecting it through the VPN host’s specially configured remote server. In this way, nobody, including your ISP, can see you going to a certain website or entering information on that website. Even if your VPN data was intercepted, it would be worthless. VPNs work as filters that turn all your communication into gibberish.
What should a good VPN do?
The VPN you choose may fulfill one or several tasks for you, but it should also be secure from compromise. These are the things you should look for in a VPN solution:
IP address encryption
The primary and most important function of a VPN is to hide your IP address from your internet service provider (ISP) and other third parties. This allows you to communicate and receive information over the Internet without fear of it being seen by anyone (except you and your VPN provider)
Encryption of logs
A VPN should also keep you from leaving a digital footprint, such as browsing history, search history, and cookies. Cookie encryption is extremely crucial. It prevents third parties from viewing sensitive data such as personal information, financial data, and any other content sent to websites that you don’t want to be linked to you.
Kill switch
If your Virtual private network connection is lost, your encrypted connection will be lost as well. A decent VPN will be able to identify this unexpected downtime and will automatically terminate pre-selected programs, lowering the risk of data compromise.
Authentication with many factors
Anyone attempting to log in by a variety of authentication methods will be verified by a secure VPN. For example, you might be prompted to provide a password before receiving a code on your mobile device. Unwanted third parties will have a harder time accessing your encrypted connection as a result of this.
Most companies rely on VPN services for secure and confidential communication.
Due to the pandemic Covid-19, most companies have gone into work from home or remote mode, and employees are working from home. In such a situation, they cannot work on an unsecured network because the company’s competitors and hackers can use third-party tools to steal confidential information. This feature makes their work easy and secure if the employee working at home is connected to the company’s VPN server.
The use of VPN services is not a new trend. VPN has been acting as a frontline defense mechanism for companies for years in terms of cyber security. The basis of the development of the Indian Information Technology Sector is the system that respects the data protection and privacy of the Government of India. Three hundred seventy-five cyber-attacks are launched against India every day, according to India’s National Cyber Security Coordinator.
In this situation, banning VPNs would bring a major chunk of India’s information technology sector to a standstill, resulting in an unprecedented rise in unemployment and cyber crimes!
VPN services are a very important tool even for privacy
VPN services are also an essential tool for journalists’ security, privacy, and privacy. Journalists rely on encryption to protect themselves and their sources from intrusions, according to IT experts. In such a situation, they easily get the service of secure information communication through a VPN. In addition to anonymity, a VPN helps them access content available in foreign jurisdictions that may not be available in every location due to geographic restrictions.
The rise of cybercrimes is certainly a major concern. Even if VPN services are shut down, it will not be easy to curb cybercrime because vicious cybercriminals or hackers can turn to alternatives like Tails OS or Tor browser to remain anonymous. In such a situation, existing cyber security threats cannot be eliminated by simply shutting down VPN services. It is certainly not wrong to think that criminal use of VPNs should be illegal.
But, we must not forget that VPN is a very useful tool for the security, privacy, and privacy of ordinary citizens, journalists, and companies. We need to understand that if we do not use a VPN to carry out many online tasks, then we are quite a soft target for cybercriminals.
Is VPN and Private Browsing Secure?
Whether you manage a business or just go online for fun, you’re certainly aware that surfing the web exposes you and your company to a variety of threats.
By accessing the Internet, you risk yourself and your company to hackers and thieves who can steal everything from personal information to web surfing history to payment information.
So, when it comes to securing yourself and your company online, you might have considered using private browsing or a VPN. Which of these, though, is best for you?
Do You Know About Private Browsing? And How Do You Use It?
In many of today’s web browsers, the option of private browsing is available. There are usually several of them, and they can be accessed through the File menu in most web browsers. For instance:
- Google Chrome has Incognito mode
- Opera has private tabs built-in.
- Safari has Private Browsing
- Microsoft Edge has InPrivate Browsing
- Firefox has Private Browsing
In other words, private browsing is a method of browsing that prevents the browser from saving information such as the user’s browser history, search history, and cookies.
Is Browsing in Private Mode Really Private?
While private browsing prevents your browser from information stored on your local pc or laptop, it does not prevent data from being transferred between your computer and your ISP (ISP).
Third-parties may also be able to discover traces of activity connected to secret browsing sessions, which can then be exploited to gain access to the operating system.
How safe is private browsing?
The main advantage of private browsing is that local data will not be stored, so you won’t be at risk of viruses, malware, or hacking attempts. Hence, the platform should protect users from fraud and theft whenever they enter financial information or passwords, for example. But this is not true.
Even if private browsing is enabled, third parties may be able to detect your browsing session and exploit vulnerabilities since it relies upon an internet protocol (IP) address provided by your ISP. Also, software bugs, HTML5 APIs, and even browser extensions have unintentionally led to accidental leaks through which public search histories and internet history were accessed by third parties. VPNs are your only solution for protecting your search history, browsing history, and online history.
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network or virtual private network.
Virtual private networks encrypt every bit of communication you make over the Internet, making it impossible for third parties to break in and steal your information.
What will VPN hide your history from?
A server with an IP address maintains a record of your identity when you go online. This server is provided by your internet service provider (ISP) and provides your connection. Your ISP can log and track everything you do online since all your web traffic passes through its servers.
You may think that your ISP is trustworthy, but the truth is they may share your browsing history with advertisers, government agencies, and other third parties. In addition, your Internet service provider may also be at risk: if they get hacked, your private and sensitive data could be exposed.
In particular, if you use public Wi-Fi networks frequently, you will want to take this into account. On the other side, anyone can be watching your internet traffic, possibly stealing information about you, including passwords, financial data, and even your whole identity.
