Why You Should Have a VPN
Tags: security, cyber, vpn, nordvpn
Published: 2022-03-21 04:44:28

If you haven't heard of VPN before or you heard of it but not convinced of using one, this article is for you.

**Disclaimer before you read: I'm promoting a product here. However, this is a product I've tested and reviewed personally; so I'm recommending a product that actually works.**

VPN has become one of the must haves when it comes to being secure online. It is no longer enough to have strong passwords and not to visit shady sites or share your password with people.

Hackers and cyber criminals are constantly improving and upgrading their techniques since their lives depend on it unfortunately.

**The following are the ways hackers could break into your computer:**

1. Social engineering: They can try to exploit your security through a less cyber security aware individual from your social network. (This is why you should keep your friends or connections private to only your direct connections and never accept any unsolicited add friend requests).

2.  Your router's password isn't long enough, and you forgot to change your password every few months. Hackers use tools that are very good at cracking passwords.

3.  Your router may have a critical vulnerability that may have not been discovered yet by the manufacturers but is being used by hackers who keep it secret for as long as they can. There are so many firmware vulnerabilities that can enable hackers to gain access or control of your device if the manufacturers did a sloppy job and didn't properly test and patch the firmware.

4.  One of your family member's devices with the WiFi password got stolen. In this scenario, all they need to do is be close enough to your house to be able to access the network and begin sniffing traffic to find a way to exploit you.

5.  A surveillance company is watching you and already has your password but they do a sloppy job at keeping your private information private. (Most security related organisations treat their targets as if they're potential criminals, so they don't care about their targets' privacy and security).

6.  You went to a cafe and suddenly realised that you don't have enough data on your phone to connect to the internet, so you connected to the Cafe's free WiFi network. Public WiFi are a hotbed for lots of hackers where they infiltrate the network and setup sniffing tools or poison the network in order to be able to perform phishing attacks or honeypot (they could act as a proxy so you think you're connecting to the internet, but you're actually connecting to a hacker's server that redirects your traffic to the internet after sniffing all the details).

Most of the above problems can be solved if you have a VPN properly installed and activated on all your devices that have access to the internet.

With a Virtual Private Network, you are not connecting to the internet directly but through an intermediary which is usually the VPN's company's secure servers and other devices in your network cannot see what is happening on your device because it's encrypted and being directed to an external server

VPN masks your online identity, that is your IP address and since traffic is encrypted, it's difficult if not impossible for any intruders to figure out what is going in and out of your device since it's all encrypted.

Even if a hacker managed to break into your home's network, all they can see is encrypted data; so they cannot learn much of what you're doing or expose your banking details.

In 2021, according to Forbes, the cost of Cyber attacks amounted to around 102.3 million dollars per month on average. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Dating scams and other forms of exploits hackers try to use can make you never trust the internet ever again. The problem has been accelerated by the fact that more and more people are sitting at home and lots of people got laid off from their jobs due to Covid and lots of blue collar jobs getting eliminated due to technological advancement and automation leaving lots of jobless unskilled labor more vulnerable and increases the likelihood of them engaging in illegal activities; they are usually recruited by an experienced hacker who uses those people as their pawns to steal and not expose themselves directly.

**So what VPN is best to use in 2022?**


I've been personally testing around and checking different VPNs; the best one by far I've ever used on Windows 10 is [NordVPN](https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=68718&url_id=902).

The reason I recommend [NordVPN](https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=68718&url_id=902) is because it is really one of the best VPNs available today.

Each VPN has its own pros and cons. Below are the pros and cons of NordVPN I've personally experienced:

**Pros:**
1. Great customer service 24/7.
2. Works very smoothly on Windows 10 and the UI is very easy to use for Techs and non Techs alike.
3. Gives you plenty of options and controls of where to connect to.
4. You can configure it easily to never connect to the internet unless the VPN is turned on.
5. They provide cybersecurity services such as advising you of potential problems and risks and also blocking harmful ads and suspicious sites.
6. The internet speed over VPN is much faster than your ISP (you still need your ISP to connect to the VPN). So if you experience an unstable connection over your regular ISP connection, just switch to the VPN and see the magic.
7. Ideal for PCs, Laptops, Tablets, Smartphones, etc...

**Cons:**
1. Doesn't work very smoothly on Linux.
2. You need to pay if you want a dedicated IP address over VPN even though you have paid for premium membership.
3. Sometimes when the client is being updated, you have to uninstall the client and reinstall it again if something goes wrong.

Despite the cons above, their customer service is what really made me pay for the premium membership; they are very friendly and they really try to help you either via email or online live chat which other companies don't perform well at; and they offer amazing prices/deals; if you buy their 2 years or 3 years plan, you're getting a great value for the bucks.

Last but not least, they have no log policy and you can pay using Cryptocurrency; so you don't have to provide them with your identity at all. However, if you are planning to use their service for illegal activities, I wouldn't recommend it since many VPN companies in Europe at least and Northern America do eventually help authorities figure out their client's identity if there is an order from the court by simply turning off the encryption without their client's knowledge. However, there hasn't been any such reported cases for NordVPN as far as I know.

If you found this article useful and informative and you'd like me to post more topics about this, please support me and use or share the links below for [NordVPN](https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=68718&url_id=902); I promise that you will never regret using [NordVPN](https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=68718&url_id=902).

**Click here or below to get a discount deal** ==> [NordVPN's website.](https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=68718&url_id=902)

[![NordVPN Deal](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hoo6w3vsraxnaaf20b00.png)](https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=68718&url_id=902)


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/t87d8zj6srhbit0uuxge.png)

Thank you!