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How to Choose a Good VPN: What You Need to Look for

July 15, 2016 Posted in VPN Education by No Comments

How to choose a Good VPN

These are some of the features of a ‘good’ VPN, or Virtual Private Network.

Security: Different VPNs offer varying levels of security. The connection between you and the VPN server is encrypted, but there are different protocols and encryption techniques deployed. For instance, when looking at VPN services, you might come across terms like IPSec (Internet Protocol Security), PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol), SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security), L2TP (Layer Two Tunneling Protocol) or others. PPTP has its vulnerabilities, so IPSec and SSL are what corporates use.

Some offer 128-bit encryption, while others offer 256-bit encryption.

  • To put things into perspective, it would take 367 centuries for a standard desktop powered by a 3.2 Ghz. Pentium 4 Dual Core processor just to crack a 64-bit encryption. If you needed to do this sooner, you would need a million such machines, all working continuously for 13 days. But that is easier said than done – where on earth could you find such a vast amount of processing power?
    It takes twice as much to break 128-bit encryption and double that to decode 256-bit encryption. So the more encryption there is, the better.

Location: If you want to access content that is geo-restricted to say, the United States, such as HBO’s Game of Thrones, you need to choose a VPN service that has a server in the country.

Logs: Some VPN servers maintain logs of their users’ internet activity, and in some countries, like the United States, they are legally obligated to share it with the Government. So if you want to stay out of trouble, check the VPN service provider’s logging policies. A VPN server that doesn’t log anything at all is what is recommended.

Price: There are free VPN service providers, but how they make money is by serving ads –  and they can do this only by keeping track of which sites you visit online. Subscription VPN service providers take your online privacy more seriously, but you should still do your homework before signing up.

Protection from malware: VPNs are designed protect you from hackers, but not from malware which you download on purpose. You could download what you think might be copyrighted software from torrent sites, but it can actually turn out to be malware labeled differently. Good VPN service providers use anti-malware scanners before permitting the download, so that you stay secure.

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