VPNs, the new necessary!

VPN companies promise to help protect you, but how can you know which of the many available services are trustworthy? And why do you suddenly need one? But doing a VPN right isn’t so easy. VPNs providers are plenty, choosing one that provides, flexibility, privacy, and doesn't sell on your private details is vital or what's the point. Here are a few guidelines on getting going, and making the right choice. Your privacy is important, so don't use a free service. Review of free Chinese VPNs

You might already be familiar with a VPN if you’ve worked in a corporate job. A company’s VPN will usually allow you to remotely connect to the tools you use for your job as if you were sitting in your seat at the office.

VPNs Explained

Think of connecting to a VPN like teleporting from one internet connection to another. When I’m on a VPN, instead of connecting to Amazon as Owen in Amsterdam, it looks like I’m Owen from New York or Owen from Toronto. A VPN makes it appear, to anyone who’s observing, that you’re accessing the internet from another computer, not the one in front of you. VPNs help shoppers get better value.

 

 

 

Prying eyes monitor what you do online, from the internet service provider (ISP) you’re paying to take you online, like BT, to the cafe Wi-Fi you’re leeching from — Can they be trusted?. Why take the chance with your details. With a VPN, the internet provider or Wi-Fi company can’t tell where the traffic is from or where it’s headed. To them, it just looks like a blob of anonymous data, headed off to a server.

 

Better value by VPN

Changing location when shopping is the price comparator ever, just log in from your home country, then the price on the same site immediately from another country. The First time you do this, you will sonder why you have not done this before. We do all the time, can save 10% easily. Airlines, Shops, Clothing, Amazon all sorts. Just ship as a present to yourself. 

 

Better buy VPN

Paid VPN services offer features like the ability to route your traffic through a network in the country of your choosing, which is handy if you really want to watch HBO & BBC iPlayer if it’s not available in your country. 

(Content providers like Hulu will sometimes block VPN servers; quality VPN providers update regularly to avoid this.) Some services block ads before they load, anonymizing you which is handy.

Some VPNs pose as a way to get a secure connection, but actually, log everything you do for marketing purposes.

Handing over access to your raw, unfiltered traffic is one of the best ways for advertisers and bad actors to learn almost everything about you. And that leads to an important question to ask yourself before you pick a VPN service: “Is this company actually helping my data be more secure, or am I exposing myself to someone else monitoring me instead?”

Let's be careful out there

Some VPNs pose as a secure connection, but actually, log everything you do for marketing purposes. Some VPN providers can see the traffic you send through their services, some may monitor your traffic and sell your browsing history to advertisers, in secret, to make more money. This is common among cheap or free services.

Facebook, for example, operated a VPN service called “Onavo” that was basically a virus. The social giant reportedly used it to suck up data about teens and use that information to clone or acquire its rivals. Monitoring Onavo traffic helped Facebook measure WhatsApp’s popularity, and led to its ultimate acquisition in 2014 for $19 billion. (In response to these reports, the company said, “Market research helps companies build better products for people. We are shifting our focus to reward-based market research which means we’re going to end the Onavo program.”)

Don't use a free VPN.

Cough up the money for a legit service. Here are the most important factors to check: Here's why.

1. Who owns the VPN service, and is it the only product they offer? If it isn’t immediately apparent who’s running the service, that’s a red flag.
2. Where are the VPN service’s servers hosted? This is an important question because you’ll probably want options for connecting to specific countries. China?
3. Does the VPN service log any data, and for how long? A paid VPN service that cares about privacy should log as little information as possible so that you aren’t exposed retroactively should they suffer a security breach in the future. Setting this up correctly is quite difficult, so the company should have a clear policy about what it logs, why it does so, and for how long.
4. What country is the VPN service founded in? Is that country a part of the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or 14 Eyes spying agreements, where countries — led by U.S. authorities — work together to collect data on internet users in secret?
5. Is this VPN service using modern encryption technology that will actually hide your traffic? This might include things like SSH tunnels, which mask your habits.

HBO, BBC iPlayer

If you’re worried about getting HBO or BBC iPlayer outside of the U.S. or U.K. or entering your banking password on free Wi-Fi — and you should be worried — that means a different set of risks. You should think about who you’re trying to protect yourself against, and what risks are acceptable in exchange for convenience — a VPN that’s ultra-secure but impossible to use may not be what you’re looking for.

Googling “the best VPN” will bring you to sites like yourvpnstore.com offering numerous selections of VPN.

Our Recommendations!

Here are our top picks if you just want a decent VPN service. 

Ease of Use: Freedome VPN

No need to explain the ease of use, it's inexpensive, it is from a big company established in 1988. Nice design, and the Financial Times 'Best VPN'. 

Best: Vypr VPN

No need to explain the ease of use, it's inexpensive, it's from a big company established in 1988. Nice design, and the Financial Times 'Best VPN'.

Create your own VPN

If you know your way around computers and don’t want anyone.

Create your own VPN in a few clicks, thanks to a project from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, called Outline. It’s intended to help protect journalists, but it’s free to use and ultra-simple to set up.

You can do this for just $5 per month on a service like DigitalOcean

Privacy is hard work

You absolutely should get a VPN for yourself, even if it’s just for occasional use, but it’s important to know what’s going on behind the scenes. It can seem like a hassle, but VPNs are an incredibly useful tool for avoiding censorship, tracking, or just getting around country restrictions when you need to.

Best VPN

All it takes to make a better-informed choice is a little bit of research. You’re doing yourself a favour, and it won’t come back to bite you later.

AVG-Secure-VPN

F-Secure-Freedome-VPN

Vypr VPN

SPAMINA

https://www.besecureonline.co.uk/Products/Business/Spamina-Email-Protection

 

The Dangers of Ransomware

https://www.besecureonline.co.uk/Blog/entryid/50/what-is-ransomware-why-you-need-to-pay-for-antivirus-software

 

How Phishing works

https://www.besecureonline.co.uk/Blog/entryid/29/what-is-phishing-update-on-phishing-and-how-phishing-emails-work

 

We are just not that bothered

https://www.besecureonline.co.uk/Blog/entryid/67/75-of-us-dont-care-about-our-personal-internet-safety

 

GDPR Review

https://www.besecureonline.co.uk/Blog/entryid/2/20-million-reasons-you-need-to-know-about-general-data-protection-regulations

 

Your Business is at risk

https://www.besecureonline.co.uk/Blog/entryid/44/cybersecurity-is-a-business-problem-not-just-an-it-risk