Do you will need a personal VPN service? In the event that you Google around so as to most people use VPN services to bypass the Internet restrictions from their countries, like in the Middle East or China. But a VPN can do so much more for you personally.
The VPN works by encrypting all your Internet traffic and redirecting it via a VPN server, typically located in the USA. This can have two immediate effects:
1. Your Internet traffic will undoubtedly be obscured from anyone “listening” at risk. Even your ISP or company could have no idea as to what your actual Internet traffic is really.
2. Your real IP address will undoubtedly be hidden from the sites you visit, thus proclaiming to offer you anonymity while online.
So even if you are in Wireless HotSpots, places that hackers often scout to find new victims, you will be protected when using the VPN. Firesheep, the Firefox plugin is really a preferred tool of the trade and is incredibly user friendly, even by amateur hackers, or “script-kiddies” as they are called in the underground community. The VPN encryption will also keep you safe from the Firesheep attacks.
The bad part is that everything comes at a cost. Two main issues to be discussed here:
1. When using the VPN you will experience a reduction in speed. This is due to the encryption and the traffic routing. If you are in France and you are using a VPN server, your traffic are certain to get encrypted, sent from France to the VPN server in USA and from the VPN USA server redirected to it`s original intended destination. From there the traffic flows via exactly the same route all the way back to you in France… That`s a long trip right?
2. Most good VPN services are paid. There are several free ones, but people have had bad reviews during the past about free VPN service: limits on bandwidth, poor speeds and connection drops some users say. The paid services generally do much better in terms of performance. Expect to pay from 10$ – 20$ per month for a good VPN service.
Another important aspect may be the encryption the VPN uses. Currently SSL VPNs are considered to really have the safest encryption. The most famous SSL VPN protocols are SSTP and OpenVPN. Unlike comment voir la f1 sur internet use certificates during the authentication process, creating a man-in-the-middle hacker attack almost impossible.
So, my advice would be, if you value your privacy and security, get yourself a VPN service and always utilize it in networks you consider unsecured (like airport or coffee shops public networks).