How to Find a Reliable VPN
We talk a lot about VPNs (virtual private networks) here , and for good reason. There are many reasons why using a VPN – both legal and otherwise – is in your best interest. As more internet users have become tech-savvy and security-minded, VPNs have become popular. Some might even lead you to believe that VPNs are not so much an offer as a requirement these days.
While there is certainly some debate over their need, the fact remains that there are more VPN users and more VPN services available now than ever before. Unfortunately, this did not make the technology any more secure than it was. In fact, it made VPNs less secure, because among the many options, finding a reliable VPN is much more difficult. That’s why.
Reliability
You will see this repeated in almost every VPN tutorial, but it is true: trust is the most important aspect of choosing and using a VPN. Not only do you need to believe that the company behind the operations to keep your VPN secure is up to par, but you also need to believe that its methods of doing business are cost effective as well. After all, you are going to transfer all of your data through them.
The problem is that no one can agree on which VPNs or the companies that make them should be owed to potential customers. There are no basic security requirements, features or business practices that a VPN or its parent company must meet. While many VPN services are open about their technology and business models, the promises these companies make should be taken on faith. The journalists have done an excellent job figuring out which VPNs are the most secure for users and which seem to be honest in their actions , but there is no governing code or standard to govern these things.
Too many products
There is no shortage of VPNs or similar online security products – even the smallest companies can quickly create a humble VPN service. You can find a myriad of VPNs for almost every modern internet platform or device imaginable, from free to paid solutions, apps, and a myriad of self-configuring suggestions, making the VPN selection process much more difficult. …
Navigating the market can be tricky and good recommendations are difficult to find. You often find Top VPN lists filled with different options – and lots of referral links if you sign up for a recommended service – and since no core security criteria or feature set has been codified, different sources often come to different conclusions about the same products. … This is a prescription for optional paralysis. It also leads to a flooding of the market with substandard products (and numerous scams).
Nobody gets along
In a recent article, Slate author Will Oremus described the process of finding a legitimate VPN as “a convoluted path through accusations and counter-accusations, companies with shady management and those with conflicts of interest, and sites with VPN ratings that may be even more dubious than companies. that they are checking. “
The VPN verification process is no doubt fraught with potential pitfalls and sketchy advertisements, but this open animosity between companies (even users, press and other commentators) is hard to overcome. However, much of this libel comes from a place of genuine concern, as it is not uncommon for VPNs that seem good at first glance to later become sketchy, dodgy, or outright scammers.
Without any codified standard that VPNs must follow, the community must monitor and regulate the products available. Companies often seek to gain the trust of their customers and the community as a whole by having public CEOs, developers, and / or leadership teams that interact directly with the press and customers, and sometimes this leads to interview challenges or social media clashes. … While this is not a guaranteed way to tell good from bad, if a company is regularly called or asked questions, consider examining its products with extreme care.
Regular VPNs aren’t great
Let’s not forget that VPNs are products that are sold to customers for a profit. While this arguably stimulates innovation and competition, it also means that privacy is not always (if ever) a company’s top priority. This gives you free VPNs that don’t really do anything other than track and sell your activity to advertisers.
But it’s not just about profit. It is also legality.
It’s no secret that VPNs are popular in part because they promise to hide your location, identity, and browsing data. This makes it much easier to download and distribute pirated content (and other illegal activities). Obviously, companies don’t want to be accused of encouraging criminal behavior, which is why they usually don’t advertise such use cases, but we all know that the pirate scene makes up a significant portion of any VPN’s user base.
While some VPNs distance themselves verbally, others do so in practice, without hiding (and in some cases tracking and reporting) the activities of pirate sites and torrent clients to your ISP or other authorities. To make matters worse, many VPNs that claim to not track, report, or sell your data can inadvertently leak it . Whether intentionally or accidentally, it undermines the purpose of the VPN and raises the question of whether these obvious “necessary” security services are worth the money.
It’s a shame that it can be difficult for the average user to know if a VPN is leaking their information, and this is sometimes even overlooked in professional reviews or top lists. Fortunately, there are ways to test this. We’ll discuss this and other VPN tips in the next section.
Tips for Finding a Reliable VPN
Choosing a VPN will be tricky, but not necessary. And despite the conflicting ideas and definitions of “reliability,” there are a few tips that all VPN users should follow to find out if a VPN is legal or not:
- At the very least, don’t use a free VPN. Is always. The technology behind VPN requires money to run, so if the company doesn’t get revenue from users, it comes from another source. This almost always involves tracking and selling your information to other companies and advertisers. In other words, it’s the exact opposite of what a VPN is supposed to do.
- Use professional sources for recommendations and checks. Our guide to choosing a VPN is a good start. Other helpful resources include a detailed list of worthwhile commercial VPNs from Wirecutter and the aforementioned Slate article .
- For those already using a VPN, you can check if your information is leaking by using this page , this page, or any of the other sites found here . If you find that your VPN is leaking your information, there are ways to fix security holes causing the leaks, or you can look for a new VPN altogether.
- If you are comfortable with your technical skills, you can also create your own private VPN .
- Finally, remember that paying for a VPN is only one part of a healthy OpSec diet, and completely optional .