Hearing of VPN services makes most users think about protecting individual devices (phones, tablets, computers). However, some VPNs support configuring a router so that all its traffic goes through the VPN’s tunnel, protecting the whole local network.
But do I need it? We hear you ask.
Well, gone are the days when no more than a couple of objects in a household would be online – one or two computers, typically. Now, times have changed. This is the era of smart devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). Hence, we need internet connections for TVs, gaming consoles, streaming devices, alarm systems, doorbells, phones, and tablets, not to mention Siri and Alexa. So, more and more gadgets are online, sending and receiving packets over the internet.
The increased interaction with the internet raises privacy and security concerns. Could somebody be intercepting the data streams from your devices? Are they collecting intelligence on you? Who are they, hackers, your employer, your ISP, or a government agency? Or all of them, maybe?
We now broadcast more data to the internet that we can track or know. Unfortunately, that means we constantly allow somebody else to abuse it. However, there’s no need to think about a 1984 scenario. If Big Brother is out there, you needn’t worry too much as long as your traffic goes through a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN secures all your traffic and solves almost every digital security issue.