What Does a VPN Hide?
Generally, ISPs(Internet Service Providers), hackers, and the government may access your IP address, browsing details, and location. But VPN can hide your IP address and encrypt the data so no one can read it. A VPN can hide the following:
IP Address
An IP address is a unique address to identify your device when connected to the network. The device without a VPN can publicly show your IP address, and anyone can see and share it with others. But when you use a VPN, your private information like IP Address, username, address, contact details, and credit card details will be hidden.
Location
When you are in the USA and want to show your location in Austria, the geo-location feature of a VPN can do this. A VPN service provider will assign an IP address to your device from Austria. For example, when we use Google Maps, the app asks us to access our location.
Browser History
When you visit any website, your data is saved in the search history. At that time, ISP can find what websites you have visited, even if you clear all the history. The history stores your website links and their search term. But, if you have a VPN, it hides all your browser history and activities.
Personal Data
Generally, Public Wi-Fi and hotspots at Airports, Cafes, Railway stations, and Hotels offer free internet access. We should not use Public Wi-Fi because they often have weak data encryption algorithms. Due to that, hackers may steal your personal details easily.
So, when you use a VPN, you can easily secure your personal information like email, contact no, banking details, and login credentials. A good VPN like IPVanish VPN uses 256-bit AES encryption for sending and receiving data.
Torrenting
It is illegal to download files from popular torrenting sites like The Pirate Bay or 1337X. Moreover, ISP and governments don’t allow accessing torrent websites. For downloading copyright-free content, you may use a VPN.
However, you should be extremely cautious because torrent files may contain viruses and malware, which may compromise your device.
Medical Information
A VPN may help in hiding your medical information. So, when you use a medical application to book an appointment online. You can use a VPN to stay protected because the application will store details like Health reports, Diagnoses, different test reports, etc.
Travel Plans
It is a good practice to use a VPN when booking a travel ticket because we share our details, visiting places, the number of people traveling, etc.
FAQs
To choose a good VPN for your device, consider factors like speed, encryption, log policy, load balancing, concurrent connections, etc. You may refer to our in-depth guide on how to choose a VPN.
A VPN cannot hide malware and viruses. Also, it cannot protect from any malware attack.
Final Words
VPNs are good for hiding IP addresses, online activities, and locations.
