Get all the benefits of VPN features
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a service that protects your privacy and sensitive data by creating an encrypted tunnel and masking your IP address. VPNs let you use public Wi-Fi safely, hide your browsing activity, access restricted websites, etc.
To provide high-quality services, VPN must deliver critical features that you can read about below.
10 best ways how to protect your home network following an essential security checklist:
- Periodically change the name of your home network (SSID),
- Create a unique and strong password,
- Frequently update the password,
- Use the strongest network encryption that’s provided by your hotspot,
- Configure the router to block all but recognized MAC addresses from connecting to the network,
- Never share your network credentials with your guests. Instead, type it by yourself,
- Limit your wireless signal range,
- Turn off your WiFi when not at home,
- Keep your router’s firmware updated,
- Increase your network security with a VPN service.
Most of the features offered by VPN services
Network
Secure network
Your data is vulnerable by default.
Each piece of your traffic goes through your internet service provider (ISP) whenever you open the web. That is precisely how the web works. You need to send a network request to the ISP to arrive at a site, which guides you towards your destination address. Therefore, everything you do online is straightforward to read for the ISP.
Nothing keeps the ISP from following and logging your internet-based activity, offering the information to sponsors, or giving it to specialists. Unfortunately, ethical ISPs that safeguard the security of their clients are rare. So regardless of your ISP’s approach, the public authority can force it to provide your online activity history.
Unless you utilize a VPN
Virtual Private Network (VPN) transfers your online traffic through a VPN tunnel – an encoded association between your computer and the destination on the internet. Besides that, a VPN encrypts your information, it conceals your IP address and location. So, the VPN protects your data from the beginning of your online activity.
Privacy
Mobile privacy
Mobile devices provide high connectivity by letting you browse, email, watch videos, read blogs, play games, shop, and many more. Therefore, having a secure mobile is as important as having a secure computer, TV, or gaming console.
I would even say that having a secure cellphone that we use daily, is crucial to keep you protected. VPN will secure your communication while using unprotected public Wi-Fi access points at airports, libraries, restaurants, or hotels. To be mobile and safe, install the VPN service or use a VPN router that you can take everywhere, protecting your data.
Stability
Dedicated IP
A dedicated IP is a static IP address assigned to a single service accessing the internet. The static IP guarantees the address that the provider will assign to you. Therefore your data traffic will be sent through that IP without losing any control of your privacy.
Secure access to business servers
Administrators may specify a list of authorized IP addresses to prevent unwarranted access to sensitive systems. Therefore, you can only log in to a system if your IP matches the one added to the whitelist. Therefore, VPN with a dedicated IP is ideal for securely accessing corporate remote access systems or private home servers.
Secure online payments
For secure banking from different locations globally, you might need to use a VPN with dedicated IP to avoid the bank treating your connection as a suspicious activity. But unfortunately, that might lock you out of your account. Therefore, a static IP address helps you avoid repetitive verification while keeping your security in place.
Avoid blacklisting
While using a shared IP address, you risk being impacted by other users‘ activity. You never know what other users of that IP address are doing. Their activity might end up blacklisting you and limiting your access to certain services. Dedicated IP is not entirely individual but provides a much lower possibility for you to be blacklisted.
Problem with the CAPTCHAs
CAPTCHAS are sensitive for multiple sources of the communicating devices and browsers, which takes place with the shared IP addresses. While using a shared IP address, you might constantly be triggering the very annoying CAPTCHA authentication. Dedicated IP proves that you’re not a robot allowing you to log in to email and other online accounts without problems.
Security
Secure WiFi
WiFi connections facilitate communication between multiple wireless devices connected to the network. What is more, a public WiFi access point can contain dozens, maybe even hundreds, of devices connected simultaneously. This type of sharing connection introduces a high risk to all participants of that network. It makes it easier to eavesdrop on the neighboring communication and the immense flow of data makes these networks a hot target for cybercriminals. Therefore, usage of a VPN on all of your devices utilizing congested, public hotspots is not even recommended but required.
Network
Automatic VPN Kill Switch (Network Lock)
Secure VPN integrates an additional layer of security called a Kill Switch, a network lock feature preventing the accidental leak of your real IP.
The ‚Leak Proof‘ security of your internet connection works by disabling your internet connection right at the moment when the VPN connection drops. There would be a risk of exposing IP in an unstable VPN tunnel because packets would automatically get routed through a regular connection. Otherwise, staying connected would expose your real IP putting you at risk of revealing your IP address and activities to cybercriminals.
Every online service has a chance of experiencing disconnections. Hence, it’s essential to react fast to this situation and protect your true identity, personal information, and IP address.
Network
Split Tunneling
VPN split tunneling keeps you protected while surfing the internet and at the same time allows you to access your local content. Split tunneling provides a configuration to decide which part of your online traffic is secured while going through the encrypted tunnel and which goes directly to the internet network.
Essentially, split tunneling allows you to access, for example, a printer in your local network and securely surf the web by separating the requests between the two types of destination.
Stability
DNS Leak Protection
The Domain Name System (DNS) resolves domain names such as “usesecurevpn.com” into actual IP addresses. In other words, it translates the easy-to-remember and well-understood terms into complex numeric characters of web servers and the other way around.
DNS leak protection is designed to keep your internet activities secure by sending all your DNS queries through a secure VPN tunnel. Once connected to the tunnel, all addresses you access are secured with encryption.
Privacy
No-Log VPN
Whenever you connect to a VPN server, that server might collect data about you, your IP, and your online activity. That’s why it’s crucial to know what kind of logs your VPN provider keeps.
A “no-log VPN” doesn’t collect data about the traffic that passes through its servers.
Many countries force services to store certain data for at least some time. Therefore, to protect your online privacy, you need to check how the no-logs policy is verified.
Let’s put it this way, you need to trust a service that you use for your protection, and a VPN supposed to be respectful of your privacy when you connect to its servers and use their service.
Trust cannot be earned solely upon verbal commitments, especially in the security industry. You should expect irrefutable proofs independent audits done by the world’s top auditing firm.
VPN shall provide the no-log policy verified by an independent reputable auditing company.
In the report of that audit you should expect:
- Always-On Audit Policy – this requires unexpected audits,
- Constant Third-Party Audits,
- Privacy-Centric Service,
- Audit History.
Don’t trust raw statements on the websites saying that you are covered by the No-log policy. Ask for audit reports and check if the audit was scheduled or not.
Plugins
VPN extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox
Chrome, Edge, and Firefox use the WebRTC protocol, which is prone to leaks. Not always VPN service can capture this type of leak. Secure VPN fixes this vulnerability by utilizing a browser extension that routes the network traffic directly through the VPN tunnel.
Protection
Multi Logins
1 Account for Multiple Devices allows you to use the service on all your devices simultaneously. This way, you can benefit from surfing the web on your phone while streaming a movie on your SmartTV and at the same time protecting your family members.
Multi-logins feature is a valuable investment:
- Save money protecting multiple devices in one paid plan,
- One account can be shared by the entire family,
- Protection of all your devices raises the security level of your whole home network.
Stability
AES 256 bit encryption (AES)
Secure VPNs should provide the highest standards regarding data encryption levels.
Advanced Encryption Standard, AES 256-bit encryption, is a data/file encryption security technique that uses a 256-bit key to encrypt and decrypt data or files. It is one of the most secure encryption algorithm methods used in most modern encryption standard security algorithms, protocols, and technologies, including AES and SSL.
It’s highly advised to use AES 256-bit encryption as it utilizes a cipher algorithm that ensures the utmost security of your online activities.
Potential requirements to use the high standards of encryption:
Patient/doctor – Encrypt communication (emails, online forms, etc.) with your doctor or health care center so that nobody else can snoop on your messages about your private health concerns.
Online Shopping – Protect your payments and keep your financial transaction/data secured from hackers. Keep in mind that VPN is only one of the measures required to protect your data.
Government – use 256-bit encryption to secure key sensitive documents/data and conversations at a high-security level to ensure that the data is protected against key global cyberattacks.
Human Activist – If you’re standing up for a cause, you gain unwanted attention from groups that want to harm your agenda. The AES 256-bit encryption will protect your communications with individuals and groups online so that no one can get access to what you’re working on. That way, you will protect not only yourself but also your contacts.
Journalist – As a journalist, your primary concern is to protect your sources for security purposes. Using 256-bit encryption proves to be beneficial in guarding your research, revelations, and sources from unwanted attention.
Travelers – Traveling is fun until you’re locked out of your social accounts or fall victim to a hack. 256-bit encryption secures your online activities when traveling abroad, which is especially helpful when you’re on public Wi-Fi networks. All it would take is to connect PureVPN and enjoy browsing and streaming.
Technology
VPN Protocols
The VPN protocol combines encryption standards and transmission protocols to establish a stable and secure connection between a VPN server and the VPN client.
Selecting the best VPN protocol for a specific use is important to keep the security level high without losing the throughput.
Like always, you need to balance security levels and the streaming speeds. Unfortunately, none can provide the best of both using regular devices.
Any VPN protocol that offers good security will be weaker in browsing speeds because every packet of data is encrypted before being sent through the tunnel.
Speed-friendly VPN protocols do not offer high-level security features.
Nowadays, the WireGuard is the fasted protocol available, making it suitable for streaming and downloading p2p.
The best for browsing, in my opinion, is the IKEv2/IPSec in combination with Dedicated IP
Comparison of different VPN protocols:
Protocol | Speed | Encryption & Secure Browsing | Stability | Media Streaming | P2P File Sharing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
WireGuard | Fastest | Good | Medium | Good | Good |
OpenVPN TCP | Medium | Good | Good | Medium | Good |
OpenVPN UDP | Fast | Good | Medium | Good | Good |
PPTP | Fast | Poor | Medium | Good | Good |
IPSec | Medium | Good | Good | Good | Good |
L2TP/IPSec | Medium | Medium | Good | Good | Good |
IKEv2/IPSec | Fast | Good | Good | Good | Good |
SSTP | Medium | Good | Medium | Medium | Good |
SoftEther | Fast | Good | Good | Medium | Medium |
Support
Dedicated 24/7 VPN Support
It’s difficult to express how annoying are situations when you can’t browse the website or stream a video because your VPN connection doesn’t work. There might be plenty of reasons for the problem. At that moment, the best would be to contact someone who can help or, at least, point out a potential source of the issue. Therefore, a good VPN service should provide any form of assistance through the Live Chat available 24/7/365.
Nevertheless, the professional VPN should provide four main communication channels to address your concerns:
- Live Chat,
- Contact Us form,
- Direct email,
- Support Center.
This approach helps to keep you less frustrated when you have a technical problem.
Don’t risk
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no-logs policy, military-grade encryption, and privacy features to ensure your digital security.
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