Why Virtual Private Networks Are Growing In Popularity

Virtual Private Network services act as a kind of cloaking safety device between an internet user and the internet at large.

VPNs encrypt user data and reroute it through a remote server. This effectively prevents the original IP address of the user from being seen by snoopers and allows for browsing in remote networks. They have found use in business, journalistic, and NGO circles, and have more recently found favor with many individual web users. Here are some reasons why.

They Are Constantly Evolving

VPN services are becoming more popular in part because they are getting better. One example of VPN’s evolution comes in the form of VPN as a service. VPN as a service is essentially cloud VPN. Until recently, employees at a business would need to use a traditional VPN, which would connect them to a network-based at their workplace. Modern businesses no longer exclusively use on-site servers. Migration to the cloud is accelerating rapidly. VPN as a service safely and privately connects employees to the cloud service as if they were accessing it at the office.

Paranoia And A Networked Society

As human beings become more and more reliant upon online networks for communication, finance, work, and governance, we become ever more vulnerable to invasions of our assumed privacy. In the age of the digital panopticon, many people and organizations alike fear the transparency of their online actions and the ease with which their data can be stolen. Government organizations, hackers, and just about anybody else that puts their mind to it can very easily compromise a person’s online privacy. VPNs offer a way of at least partially protecting yourself or your organization from unwanted snooping. By rerouting your traffic through a remote server and therefore assigning you a new IP address, a VPN should stop most intruders from correctly identifying the actual source of activity.

They Help Businesses Keep Information Safe

Businesses are some of the most enthusiastic adopters of VPN services. In contemporary businesses, data is immensely important – and sensitive. Data breaches can cause companies huge embarrassment and lead to vast losses. Sensitive data such as customer credit card details is held and transferred by businesses under the pretense that they can guarantee it will not fall into the wrong hands. VPN services encrypt data while it is being transferred. This is especially important for businesses that need to regularly transfer sensitive data between endpoint devices and servers.

They Help Consumers Bypass Geographic Exclusivity

Aside from helping businesses secure their data and helping individuals retain some degree of privacy, Virtual Private Networks have a far more mundane, everyday use. Many media outlets impose geographical restrictions on their output. This is usually so that they can adhere to broadcasting or advertising deals that they have made with domestic companies. VPN services help people bypass these geographical blocks so that they can listen to music, watch the news, or indulge in their favorite television shows. The World Wide Web should be just that: worldwide.