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But, what most people may not know is that VPNs lets them do much more besides simply securing their
connection.

4 reasons why VPNs are more than just security apps

1. Privacy

One of the first, and most obvious, extras you get with a VPN is privacy.

You see:

When a VPN encrypts your data packets and hides your true IP, it’s not only protecting you from the
hackers that want to infect your device with malware, it protects you from anyone just snooping around
your connection.

This includes entities like:

 Your school: They often monitor your device’s connection to block certain sites (more on this
later).
 Your ISP: Your Internet Service Provider can actually track your online habits. This is because
the requests your browser makes always travels through your ISP before they are sent to the
proper DNS server. This fact lets ISPs monitor and record your online searches.
 Your Government: You may have heard stories about Governments spying on their citizens. Well,
there is evidence that some of these stories are true.

With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holidays coming up, are you thinking about using your hotel
or airport Wi-Fi to do your online shopping? Use a VPN to shop on secure HTTPS online shops. This
ensures your privacy from anyone snooping around that public Wi-Fi’s connection who might want to find
and steal your personal information.

With all that said:

VPNs were primarily made for security, not privacy. It just so happened that this primary function also
allowed some benefits to privacy. But, you shouldn’t expect 100% anonymity from a VPN alone. You can
install additional privacy apps (like TOR and DuckDuckGo) that work with your VPN to get you the privacy
you need.

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