In the modern age, many people attempt to
take control of their privacy, going the extra mile to ensure that their data
is not logged or stored for businesses to use without their permission.
Unfortunately, however, it is no simple feat, as going against the data
collection flow requires both slight technical expertise and, more importantly,
time.
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Due to mass negligence from the public,
most companies get away with the vast majority of their data collection
practices as users are either careless or simply unaware of how these companies
harness your data. Users don't see the problem with this because they are
unaware of how priceless their data is and how it can be used to benefit
companies of all scopes and sizes.
Therefore, for the layman, the only way to
convince them of enforcing self-regulation in terms of data protection would
have to be an easy and quick method that would not require any technical
knowledge, and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) know this.
What
is a VPN?
The literal definition of VPNs is that
they extend a private network across a public network and enable users to send
and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices
were directly connected to the private network.
An example of that is you, sitting at
home, decide to look up the latest trends in the fashion industry. So you open
Google, search for what you want, and the results are presented to you.
Behind the scene, your computer, through
your internet protocol (IP) connection to the internet, transmits the data
through your personal network into Google's servers, which are then processed
and transmitted from Google back to you through the same place you received it
on your personal network.
However, what the VPN does is take the
information sent by you, run it through its servers, which are hosted on
virtual machines, send it to Google, receive data sent by Google in response to
your search, and then send it back to your device.
So, in theory, you can remain anonymous
while masking your browsing activity from a specific party.
The previous action sounds excellent in
theory but doesn't address the original reason people choose to use a VPN in
the first place — if securing their personal information was the priority, then
all you've done is mask information outgoing to one source and handed it over
to the other.
While their employer or the website
they're trying to access won't be able to track their information, the VPN
will. Interestingly enough, most if not all VPN's actively advertise that they
do not store or use users' information — but how can one trust those
statements?
Many governments globally have designated
laws and orders that tech companies that deal with big data must abide by. Law
enforcement actively uses information from the internet to assist them in
pursuing justice, including subpoenaing companies that have access to
information, including VPNs.
Therefore, even if not used for monetary
purposes, VPNs are actively encouraged to store your data to protect their own
interests.
Sadly, users are not only able to
determine whether or not any data about them is being stored, but even if
discovered, they cannot force a purge of said data because VPNs hold all rights
over all data transfers that have occurred between them and their users.
VPNs
themselves are vulnerable
In 2018 one of the largest VPN providers,
Nord VPN was hacked in one of the most significant data breaches in modern-day
history. The vulnerability was abused for over a month before Nord realized
that they were hacked.
While we can never know if it was a
potent hack or simply negligence on behalf of the company, tech experts have
concluded that no system is invulnerable. In essence, tech companies are in a
never-ending rat race. So while we would like to believe that companies are on
the consumer's side and that they do everything in their power to ensure your
data's security, the opposite is much more probable.
With the amount of information that goes
through a VPN daily, it is arguably one of the best targets to hack to gain
access to a large pool of data in one go.
Honeypots
VPNs are often used as honeypots, a
mechanism that aims to counteract attempts of unauthorized use of information
systems, which attracts a specific demographic of individuals who take
advantage of honeypots.
While there are plenty of everyday users
that simply need to access content online that isn't available through their
Internet service provider (ISP) or would like to secure their data; there are
people on the internet that use VPNs for illegal purposes.
Unfortunately, many users believe that
this illegal use does not impact them, mainly because their main goal was to
simply mask their online data usage.
However, that is not always the case. If
enough criminal activity occurs on a specific VPN platform or one of their IPs,
you, the user, can be put on the list of potential people involved in that
criminality.
As a result, your information may be
requested from your ISP, which will then be used to build a case against you —
all without you even realizing what was going on.
Speaking
of IP's
All VPNs, for the most part, use a set
amount of IPs for their operations. As a result, you and thousands, if not
millions, of people use the same IPs every day without them changing all too
often.
Inherently, websites can recognize these
IPs and, consequently, can ban certain connections from accessing their
content.
As a result, if one of the many users
happened to get banned while on a VPN IP while browsing one of your favorite
sites, you would effectively suffer the consequences as well.
Additionally, most VPN IPs are already
banned on several websites, particularly those that allow users to post
comments or content visible to other users. This is used as a defense mechanism
against trolls or highly offensive content being publicized and soiling the
site's reputation.
So, in theory, through no fault of your
own, you may discover that certain sites will now be inaccessible to you as a
result of your continued use of a VPN.
Are
there ways for users to secure their data?
Unfortunately, without a solid background
in computing, users would have a difficult time creating a secure system.
There are virtual machines (VMs) that can
be used to set up private VPNs for a fraction of the cost of a regular VPN
while being able to select the IPs that you would like to deploy. However, the
technologies behind setting up these VPNs require at least some shell
knowledgeability before it can be used, therefore making it difficult for the
everyday user.
Additionally, assuming that one could
successfully set one up, the technology that drives these virtual machine VPNs
has aged rapidly. With OpenVZ, a virtualization system in which 99 percent of
all VPNs are built, had its kernel (core program of a computer's system) update
in 2009 — with over 400 known exploits still existing to date, and since OpenVZ
is container-based, it shares the exact same kernel with all of its VMs.
So, unfortunately, users are better off
without a VPN browsing regularly than with one trying to use their services in
order to maintain anonymity. However, users should, at all times, remain
vigilant and maintain basic security hygiene such as not logging into unsecured
networks, staying away from unsecured websites, and avoiding downloading
anything from unofficial websites to avoid getting spyware that could harm your
data.
In conclusion, stay away from VPNs. They
may use stylish websites, promote great advertising campaigns, and parade their
values of data security all day, but in the end, users are not gaining anything
by using their services if their intentions are to remain anonymous and
maintain a low profile on the internet.
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