How Secure is a VPN – 3 Factors to Consider

Over the past decade, VPN services have shown incredible improvement in terms of offering more value to the user. In the past, VPNs are ordinary tools that allowed web surfers to enjoy internet freedom. They were only used as tools to unlock websites and channels on the internet.

VPNs were not much different than an ordinary proxy service. Hence, they provided little to no added value to the user. However, in the past few years, VPNs have shown incredible growth and innovation by adding some amazing features into their service. These include online security and privacy features that guarantee your safety on the web. But while most VPN services claim that they offer the best online security, how secure are these services really? Let’s find out.

How Secure is a VPN?

The online world is not secure. This was already proven by the likes of Edward Snowden. ISPs and governments alike have been involved in monitoring your data and checking whatever that you do online.

When you connect to the World Wide Web, your ISP assigns you with an Internet Protocol (IP) that can reveal information such as the city and country you live in. This address can also be used to track your online activities. Because this address is public, websites can check your physical location and can also track you through cookies. There are also cases when users connect to a public Wi-Fi network that is already on the radar of the most dangerous hackers. Connecting to any suck hotspot would immediately compromise your device and all the data already in it. In scenarios like these, you can ensure the security and anonymity of your data by connecting to a secure VPN service. The best VPN services allow you to change your IP address, and hence camouflage your actual physical location. Furthermore, these services offer end-to-end encryption that keeps your device and online traffic safe on the web. This keeps you safe even when you are connected to a compromised Wi-Fi network. But despite these features, is your VPN service still safe? The answer is probably no. Why? Because there are plenty of other causes that can compromise your security on the web, even when the VPN is turned on.

Three Aspects That Make a VPN Secure

There are some crucial aspects that you need to consider before choosing any VPN service. These aspects are rarely promoted, but they are essential in ensuring that you really remain secure on the web.

For a VPN to be really secure, it has to have the following features available:

1. IP Leak Protection

Have you ever visited a restricted website while connected to a VPN and still found it inaccessible? If yes, then your VPN is probably leaking your IP address.

Some VPN services, especially free services, are not perfect. They have leaks inside them that lead to the exposure of your actual identity on the internet. There is no way to avoid this issue, except to use a VPN service that offers IP leak protection. There are multiple types of leaks that can expose your identity on the web. These include WebRTC leak, DNS leak, and IPv6 leak. All of these leaks are preventable if you use PureVPN. The service not only offers protection from these leaks, but it also provides test tools for all of these different types of leaks. You can learn more about these leaks and how PureVPN protects you against them from here.

2. Internet Kill Switch

If you’re a regular VPN user, then you may have experienced an issue that can totally expose your identity on the web. It often happens that while surfing on the internet, your VPN may have accidentally disconnected, leaving you totally exposed on the web. This is a frustrating issue that is avoidable if you’re using the right VPN service.

An important feature that keeps you safe online is the Internet Kill Switch. When turned on, this feature is built to kill your internet connection if your VPN accidentally disconnects. This feature is incredibly helpful as it saves you from total exposure on the web. Even if your VPN disconnects, you can remain relieved with the knowledge that you are still hidden and anonymous on the web. PureVPN is one of the first VPN services to offer the Internet Kill Switch feature to its users.

3. No Log Policy

Most VPN services claim that they store zero user logs on their system. More often than not, these claims turn out to be totally false. You only need to open the privacy policy pages of these services to learn that they actually store user logs on their network.<

Only some VPN services have had the decency to actually mention it on their privacy policy page that they store zero-logs. But even in these cases, it is hard to take these services by their word. The obvious solution, in this case, is for these services to run a third-party audit that can confirm that they store zero-logs. Only five VPN services have allowed a third-party audit that has confirmed that they store zero logs on their system.

Benefits Of Secure VPN

Several VPN providers claim to be the most secure. Not many can actually stand up to the difficult task of becoming the leaders of this industry. These are features of secure VPN.

256-Bit Encryption: Employs AES 256-bit military-grade encryption that keeps your data secure and protected from malicious entities. Security Protocols: The apps come packed with industry standard secure vpn protocols. The protocols provide a smooth and secure online experience as per your needs DDoS Protection: DDoS attacks can completely disrupt your system. A secure VPN protects you against DDoS attacks of up to 480Gbps NAT Firewall: NAT Firewall blocks all sorts of incoming threats and safeguards your connection from extortion. P2P Protection: Conduct secure communications, upload and download files with the ultimate P2P protection. You remain anonymous during P2P communications.

Final Note

Precaution is always better than cure. A lot of VPN services claim to be the most secure on the web. Instead of taking these VPN services by their word, it is better to check their feature pages instead and confirm if they are really secure or not.