{"id":23926,"date":"2021-08-30T20:09:58","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T20:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/?p=23926"},"modified":"2023-01-20T05:26:20","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T05:26:20","slug":"how-a-vpn-can-hide-your-online-identity-and-protect-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/how-a-vpn-can-hide-your-online-identity-and-protect-you\/","title":{"rendered":"How a VPN Can Hide Your Online Identity and Protect You?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think of VPN as a <\/span><b>solid tool<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that can literally open any door on the <\/span><b>web<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Whether you want to have access to another country&#8217;s Netflix library or you want to <\/span><b>spoof<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> your location to catch more Pok\u00e9mons on<\/span><b> Pok\u00e9mon GO<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, VPN is the answer to all of these. But why should you get it in the first place if you never really needed it? Let&#8217;s know more about how a VPN can have your back by protecting your <\/span><b>online identity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A VPN connects you to a server and <\/span><b>encrypts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all your traffic from which your online identity is <\/span><b>secured<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you&#8217;re connected to a VPN, your <\/span><b>original IP address<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is <\/span><b>masked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and you carry out all your online activities with total <\/span><b>anonymity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No one, even your ISP, is <\/span><b>unable<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to track your online activities when you&#8217;re connected to a VPN. Your <\/span><b>geolocation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>IP address<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are <\/span><b>changed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It&#8217;s like you&#8217;re carrying out all your internet activities in a <\/span><b>private<\/b> <b>bubble<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>What Exactly Is A VPN and How It Works?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>VPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> creates a secure tunnel between a <\/span><b>user<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and a <\/span><b>VPN<\/b> <b>server<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from which the user can carry out all of their online activities with complete <\/span><b>security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>anonymity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Let us say you are residing in Egypt, and when <a href=\"https:\/\/vpntested.com\/best-vpn-for-egypt\/\">you use the best VPN for Egypt<\/a>, a secure pathway is created, and everything you do on the web is carried out through that pathway. Through this, you can avoid hacking and snooping activities as the VPN server masks your original IP address.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a <\/span><b>bogus<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> IP address, your online identity is <\/span><b>safe<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and everything you do on the web, you&#8217;re doing it with an <\/span><b>enhanced<\/b> <b>layer<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of security, hence you cannot be <\/span><b>traced<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>tracked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><b>attacked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be vulnerable on the internet, browsing with your original identity is risky, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.howdoesavpnwork.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a VPN can protect your identity online<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Wondering how? Below are the important details of a VPN.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>How Does VPN Encryption Work?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The process of encrypting is known as <\/span><b>hiding your personal information<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Suppose you are connected to a VPN. When you make a request on the web, your traffic passes through a secure tunnel encrypting all your traffic which can only be decrypted by a <\/span><b>key<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The key is only possessed by the <\/span><b>VPN<\/b> <b>server<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (which you are connected to) and <\/span><b>the client<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who is using the VPN (your device).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now in the view of your <\/span><b>ISP<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, your original IP address is replaced by the VPN server&#8217;s IP address, and that&#8217;s what he&#8217;ll be seeing. Note that your ISP might know that you are using a VPN, but it&#8217;ll be a pickle to track you. Even if someone somehow manages to get hold of your internet traffic, all they will get is some <\/span><b>gibberish<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that&#8217;ll make no sense! The only way your data will make sense is to <\/span><b>decrypt<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it by its key.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What Are The Types Of VPN?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">VPNs became popular after the <\/span><b>2015<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;<\/span><b>16<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> era, but if we look back, they were widely being used by businesses to carry out activities and ease their workflow executions. There are <\/span><b>two<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> types of VPNs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Remote Access VPN\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>Remote Access VPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is your regular VPN which you use every day to <\/span><b>unblock<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> geo-restricted content on the web or access different <\/span><b>Netflix<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> regions with large libraries. A user connects to a VPN server with their device while sitting at home. <\/span><b>Other than that<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, remote-access VPNs are widely used by <\/span><b>businesses<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> so that their <\/span><b>remote<\/b> <b>employees<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can have easy access to the company&#8217;s <\/span><b>internal<\/b> <b>network<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important to know the difference between these two VPNs. Although they both fall into the category of remote access VPN, the one you use for your personal use to access geo-blocked websites or streaming platforms is called a <\/span><b>Personal<\/b> <b>VPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A <\/span><b>Business<\/b> <b>VPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is the second type of remote access VPN is used by organizations to create their own <\/span><b>cloud<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;<\/span><b>based<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> secure networks to access the <\/span><b>resources<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of their company.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Site-to-Site VPN\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>Site-to-Site VPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is often used by companies that are located in <\/span><b>different<\/b> <b>cities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><b>locations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This VPN type is used to <\/span><b>connect<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all the office networks lying in different locations, forming a <\/span><b>virtual<\/b> <b>bridge<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to have a secure and private connection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dividing it furthermore, an <\/span><b>Intranet Site-to-Site VPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is when the same company&#8217;s different offices connect to each other with a site-to-site VPN type. An <\/span><b>Extranet Site-to-Site VPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is when a company is connected to the network of another company that is not in its jurisdiction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What Are VPN Protocols?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>VPN Protocol<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be defined as a <\/span><b>set of rules<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><b>instructions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from which the traffic of the user is carried out through the VPN tunnel, reaching the VPN server, and then accessing the destined page after the IP address is <\/span><b>masked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The earliest VPN protocol introduced by <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/\"><b>Microsoft<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was in the <\/span><b>1990s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The <\/span><b>Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is available in almost all platforms and operating systems. But being an outdated VPN protocol as the technology has advanced since then, it is not widely used in the world anymore as it has been <\/span><b>cracked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and thus it does not offer the security which is required by the client.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the PPTP protocol, many protocols were introduced but the widely used protocol today is <\/span><b>OpenVPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>OpenVPN<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OpenVPN is the best choice if you are connecting to a VPN server that is far away from your original location. OpenVPN is <\/span><b>flexible<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in terms of <\/span><b>speed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and has a strong encryption method of <\/span><b>AES<\/b> <b>256<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It is the best protocol to select if you are using a <\/span><b>desktop<\/b> <b>PC<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It is a debatable topic that OpenVPN may not be the fastest VPN protocol available but it sure is the safest when it comes to security!<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>IPSec<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This protocol is used to <\/span><b>authenticate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>encrypt<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> data packets when internet communication occurs across an IP network. It can be combined with other protocols for increased security.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>L2TP<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>L2TP<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><b>Layer 2 Tunnel Protocol<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is a connection protocol that securely transfers data across networks. This protocol establishes two networks and uses the IPSec protocol to <\/span><b>encrypt<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> information within its space.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>WireGuard<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>WireGuard<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a VPN protocol that was only available for <\/span><b>Linux<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> users at first but then it was available for all the widely used platforms. The good thing about the WireGuard protocol is how <\/span><b>simple<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>flexible<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it is. Comparing it to other protocols like <\/span><b>OpenVPN<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which has <\/span><b>70,000<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lines of codes, WireGuard only has <\/span><b>4000<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which makes the protocol easy to be audited and maintained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is an <\/span><b>open<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;<\/span><b>source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> protocol so it is repeatedly <\/span><b>audited<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by third-party experts and flaws are removed to make it more <\/span><b>advanced<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>secure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Check Surfshark <\/span><b>(External Link to Surfshark here)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 VPN to use the WireGuard protocol, it has a no-limit offer on simultaneous devices!<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Why You Should Use A VPN?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this digital era, data has value. You might have no idea but your personal data is being collected and used whenever you visit an e-commerce website or fill a form. <\/span><b>Other than that<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, if you don&#8217;t use a VPN, you are easily <\/span><b>tracked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as your original IP is being <\/span><b>exposed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the web. To make sure that your online identity is protected, you need a VPN.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here&#8217;s how a VPN hides your online identity and protects you.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>It Masks Your IP Address<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you connect to a VPN, your original IP address is masked. Any website you visit on the internet, your original IP address is <\/span><b>safe<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> behind the <\/span><b>VPN-Assigned<\/b> <b>IP<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which makes it harder for web predators to <\/span><b>attack<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><b>snoop<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on you. Even your <\/span><b>ISP<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or the <\/span><b>government<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> won&#8217;t be able to track your <\/span><b>online activity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>It Keeps You Safe While Connected To A Public Wi-Fi<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to connect to the <\/span><b>wi-fi<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> network of your gym or the coffee house downstairs, make sure you are connected to a VPN. Connecting to a VPN <\/span><b>eliminates<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the chances of your personal data being <\/span><b>hijacked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><b>attacked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>You Can Download Files With Complete Anonymity<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To download a file with your original IP address would be a bad decision as your original IP is exposed on the web while you are downloading your favorite movie. To make sure that you <\/span><b>don&#8217;t<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> get caught, turn on your VPN and you can download any <\/span><b>torrent<\/b> <b>file<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while being totally <\/span><b>anonymous<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Unblock Geo-Restricted Content<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a VPN, you can unblock any geo-blocked site or any platform which is restricted by your country&#8217;s government. A VPN will <\/span><b>spoof<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> your location as if you are accessing a website from that country. You can have access to <\/span><b>streaming<\/b> <b>platforms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with large libraries of movies and TV shows!<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>How to Choose a VPN?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before choosing a VPN, it is important that you consider certain <\/span><b>factors<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which would turn out to be in your favor. There is a large number of <\/span><b>VPN<\/b> <b>providers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> available in the industry <\/span><b>competing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with each other to offer the best possible deals to the customers. So it wouldn&#8217;t be too hard to choose a VPN provider which offers just the things you need!<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What Is The Cost of VPN?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are VPN providers with the <\/span><b>cheapest<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> plans and there are VPN providers with the <\/span><b>most<\/b> <b>expensive<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> subscription plans but you have to be wise while choosing. Check whether or not it has all the features which you require, <\/span><b>check out the user feedback<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>listen to the experts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but most importantly, <\/span><b>test it yourself<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">! Use the money-back guarantee options to test the VPN yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>How Many Servers Does The VPN Have?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go for a VPN service that has servers in almost every country so you can easily have access to <\/span><b>geo<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;<\/span><b>blocked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> content on the web.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What Features Does The VPN Have?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A VPN is <\/span><b>gold<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if it has all the necessary features available like <\/span><b>Smart<\/b> <b>DNS<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, from which you can have access to any region&#8217;s streaming platform. A <\/span><b>kill<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;<\/span><b>switch<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is important so you don&#8217;t leak your original IP address if your VPN accidentally crashes. <\/span><b>Double<\/b> <b>encryption<\/b> <b>feature<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which encrypts your traffic twice, giving you the <\/span><b>perfect layer of security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Check the Log Policy<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A reliable and trusted VPN service will have <\/span><b>strict<\/b> <b>log<\/b> <b>policies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to give surety to the users that their online traffic is not being <\/span><b>tracked<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Always check for the <\/span><b>logging<\/b> <b>policy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and only go for a VPN service that <\/span><b>doesn&#8217;t log user activity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. (We recommend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressvpn.com\/\">ExpressVPN<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Wrapping it up!<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">VPNs have gained <\/span><b>global<\/b> <b>popularity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the last decade and since then it became a necessary tool for <\/span><b>online<\/b> <b>activities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It can hide your real identity and surely protect all your activities with just a <\/span><b>single<\/b> <b>click<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Whether it be for the use of <\/span><b>accessing restricted content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>streaming geo-blocked movies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><b>playing country-specific games<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it comes in handy in all situations!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Think of VPN as a solid tool that can literally open any door on the web. Whether you want to have access to another country&#8217;s Netflix library or you want to spoof your location to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23926"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28031,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23926\/revisions\/28031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reliablecounter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}