Right and Wrong VPN Providers: One More Risk in Your Online Global Internet Browsing Traffic

Unfortunately, many consumers are flocking to VPNs under the mistaken impression that such tools are a near-mystical panacea, acting as a sort of bulletproof shield that protects them from any potential privacy violations on the internet.

Not only is that not true (ISPs, for example, have a universe of ways to track you anyway), many VPN providers are even less ethical than privacy-scandal-plagued companies or ISPs.

Most People Probably Don't Need A VPN, Experts Now Advise

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the first-do-no-harm dept

Tue, Oct 12th 2021 4:37am — Karl Bode

 

Karl Bode: "Given the seemingly endless privacy scandals that now engulf the tech and telecom sectors on a near-daily basis, many consumers have flocked to virtual private networks (VPN) to protect and encrypt their data. One study found that VPN use quadrupled between 2016 and 2018 as consumers rushed to protect data in the wake of scandals, breaches, and hacks. . .

After a repeated few years where VPN providers were found to be dodgy or tracked user data when they claimed they didn't, professionals have shifted their thinking on recommending even using one.

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What does my ISP see when I am connected to VPN?

When you connect to a NordVPN server, your internet service provider (ISP) can see that you’re connected to an IP owned by a VPN service — in this case, NordVPN. It might also know the time of your connection and the port your VPN protocol is using. Plus, the provider will see the amount of traffic traveling to and from your device.

Apart from these, the only other important thing your service provider can detect is the fact that your actual online traffic is hidden from them. That means it loses access to the following information:

• The websites you visit
• The specific web pages you browse and the time you spend there
• Your browsing and search history
• The files you download from or upload to unencrypted websites
• The info you type on unencrypted websites

Why does the ISP still see some information?

That’s because your service provider connects you to the websites you want to visit. You send it a data package, which works as a request, and the ISP sends it to the correct destination. When you connect to a VPN, you tell it to send that request to the VPN server.

But from that point on, the VPN server takes over the package, and the ISP will never know its final destination.

To sum up, the ISP sees this information when you use a VPN:

• The IP address of the VPN server
• The timestamp of when you connected
• The port your VPN protocol is using
• The amount of data you’re sending or receiving
• Encrypted and unreadable data traveling between you and the VPN server

So use a VPN to block ISP tracking and protect your privacy

REFERENCE:

What does my ISP see when I am connected to VPN?

nordvpn.com

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> While folks requiring strict security over wireless may still benefit from using a reputable VPN provider, experts say the landscape has changed.

Improvements in the overall security of ordinary browsing (bank logins, etc.), plus the risk of choosing the wrong VPN provider, means that many people may just be better off without one:

 

Granted there are plenty of journalists, government officials, or folks researching dangerous or volatile people who probably still benefit from using a quality VPN.

There are also instances where using a VPN can help thwart invasive advertising data tracking:

"There is at least one thing that some VPNs could help with: blocking malicious ads. The online advertising ecosystem is so dangerous that the U.S. Intelligence Community has blocked advertisements on a network-level, Motherboard reported recently. But online ads are not just a threat to intelligence agencies; Motherboard has repeatedly shown how data brokers harvest 'bidstream' data by participating in the online advertising process. This sort of information can include location data."

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> But as the VPN field has become crowded by dodgy players, just injecting an entirely new dodgy player into your traffic flow isn't really helping anybody. Especially if you lack the capacity to ferret out which VPN provider is keeping its word, and which is just another shady business collecting, storing, and monetizing your data (while breathlessly insisting they don't do that).

Filed Under: cybersecurity, encryption, privacy, security, vpns