(Article) Rise in threats to Cybersecurity & Evolution of VPNs

The world we live in today has seen rapid advancements in science, medicine and particularly the tech industry. A recent study revealed that around 46% of the world’s population has instant access to the internet at present. Nowadays, everyone has their own interests, for instance using the internet for personalizing themselves or using it for productions. The benchmark was set in 2015 when the number of internet users crossed 3 Billion worldwide.

While the internet is typically broadcasted as an entity with endless benefits, there are other sides to the picture as well where the very internet used for our benefit could turn out to be a threat. Online threats are drastically increasing and that’s certainly something to be worried about before you become the victim.

Why the Internet could be a threat?

We live in a digital world where technology has the power to change the views & internet is one of its major means. When browsing the internet or socializing online, we typically ignore the circumstances and some sensitive factors that could turn out to be consequential later on.

Privacy Issues

According to Oxford Internet Surveys, 70% of internet users feel comfortable to share their personal details online which is the first door of getting your identity robbed & data breached. Social networking sites are a perfect example where people share their intricate details online publicly. Moreover, identity thieves are working around the clock to collect your personal information from your online profiles, the details such as, your date of birth, email address, profile picture, likes and dislikes that later lead to heinous activities such as cyberbullying and cyberstalking.

Adware & Viruses

Adware is a program that runs through advertising which tricks you to download a third party software by redirecting you to its annoying page with full of ads. Many advertisers spread this virus through using short links like bit.ly where the user is unaware of what’s behind the bars and force them to download it by showing behavioral ads of your interest. Sometimes you may have also noticed unwanted window popups opens with lots on posters & flyers in it. A survey confirms that in every 4.2s a new specimen malware arises.

ISP monitoring/ surveillance

Over the past years, ISPs have developed ingenious resources to monitor every activity that you do on internet. Whenever you send an email, share a file, download something or watch online you cannot trick your ISP because your ISP is the gateway between your computer and the internet which connects you to the rest of the world. Paul Ohm, a university professor once said in an interview on this issue:

"I'm not saying that they are invading your privacy right now," Ohm said. "What the paper does is to play out the possibilities. ISPs have the power to obliterate privacy." - InfoWorld

Fortunately, fighting such online threats is not impossible. Luckily there are some security solutions that can be used and among them is a robust technology widely known as a VPN.

Evolution of a VPN?

History:

The internet began its journey when the US army used it for internal communications. Over the years, the security & privacy risks escalated arising major online threats to numerous businesses and individuals across the globe. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) came to existence when one of Microsoft’s employee developed a secure & private tunnel between system and the internet named as PPTP (Peer-to-Peer Tunneling Protocol).

A VPN connection transfers your data secretly in an encrypted way through private tunnels also called Tunneling. It allows you to secure your privacy and hide your activities from prying eyes, governmental surveillance and ISP monitoring.

A perfect security solution:

Due to continuous rise in security concerns, VPNs are now evolving into cyber security solutions following by their newly advanced security & privacy features.

Content Filtering:

Content filtering allows you to block annoying ads and prevent slow browsing because it leads to scam advertisements and malwares.

Anti-Malware:

Anti-malware serves as an additional layer of security to avoid viruses getting into your system and blocks all those pages hinting towards such programs.

IDS/IPS:

Intrusion detection and prevention system guards you against cyber-attacks like DDoS & provides a 360 shield of advance protection.

Final words:

Although, the way cyber threats are rising, necessary steps must be taken to avoid privacy evasion. Cyber-attacks have been dominating this world from a decade. But luckily there are solutions available that can help you secure yourself against those threats. When you get a VPN, you get complete cyber security solutions along with bunch of other features like streaming, torrenting, file sharing and online freedom too.