What Is a VPN and Why Do I Need One?

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Ever seen a thriller in which someone asks, “is this a secure line?” The good guys or villains want to be sure their conversations can’t be overhead. When you get a VPN to connect to the Internet, you’re signing up for the online equivalent of a secure line.

VPN stands for virtual private network. Put simply, a VPN connects your computer, smartphone, or tablet to a shared or public network as if you’re connecting to a private network. Banks, governments, and companies use VPNs to connect to their networks remotely. Now, it’s becoming more common for the general public to use VPNs. After all, we’re doing online shopping or banking and exchanging sensitive data. We don’t want others to be able to access or track what we do online.

A VPN is an encrypted connection to the internet. It’s your own secure and private internet connection that you can take with you outside of your home.

Benefits of a VPN

There are many advantages to having a VPN. For instance, your VPN also encrypts your online activity. Every internet user has a unique IP address assigned by their internet provider. It’s sort of the technological equivalent of your fingerprint.

When you connect to the internet using a VPN, your IP address is masked. The address used is that of your VPN provider. So, you look like them rather than your home connection. You might think of the VPN as wearing gloves that prevent you from leaving fingerprints when you move around online.

Your search history isn’t logged. You don’t have to worry about bad actors or advertisers tracking your activity. If you want to check social media at work or on a school campus that blocks certain sites, your VPN lets you do so.

You can use the VPN to access a business network securely, too. So, you can use the technology to be more efficient when working remotely.

A VPN can also help you avoid geo-blocking. What’s geo-blocking? It’s a technology that restricts your access to services based on your location. For example, if you were trying to stream a Netflix show from your home country from overseas, you would be geo-blocked. But if Netflix can’t see you’re out of the country, it will let you in to catch up on your favorites.

You could also save money. When your location isn’t known, you can benefit from price disparities – the cost for the same product varies in different regions. The wealthier areas are charged more because sellers can get away with the price markup.

Who can use a VPN?

Anyone can connect to a VPN. You can connect your computers, phones, or tablets to a VPN. It’s a flexible solution that doesn’t need you to switch internet provider or buy any new equipment.

You can also work with a VPN provider. Some are free, but paid VPN providers tend to offer proven security and greater networking speeds.

Make sure your online traffic is secure. We can set up a safe VPN for you. Give our experts a call at (515)422-1995.

Can Private Browsing Protect You Online?

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Maintaining your privacy while using the internet has become more challenging over the years. The recent Facebook privacy scandal made that abundantly clear, with users shocked at how much information had been recorded about them. While it’s almost impossible to enjoy the internet and leave zero digital footprints, there are things you can do to hide your online activities – some more effective than others.

1. Get a virtual private network (VPN) VPNs aren’t just for business and downloaders now, they’ve gone mainstream. Once set up, it creates an encrypted connection from your computer to the VPN providers computer. The other computer could be in another city or another country. When you visit a website, it can only see the VPN computer – not yours. You essentially run around the internet pretending to be another computer, in another location. Since your connection is encrypted, even your ISP can’t see what you’re doing online, making your usage anonymous.

The downsides: Because your internet usage has to route through another computer first, your browsing and download speed could be affected. They can be tricky to set up and not all VPNs offer the same privacy levels (the better ones tend to be more expensive). Some websites may even block visits from people using VPNs, so you may end up switching it on/off as required.

2. Go incognito Most browsers have a private browsing mode, each called something different. For example, Google Chrome calls it ‘incognito’, Microsoft calls it ‘InPrivate’. Before you take the name at face value, it’s a good idea to talk about how they define ‘private’. Unlike a VPN where you can dance around the internet anonymously, private browsing simply means it won’t show up in your browser history, or what you entered into forms. This feature is free, so you always have the option to use it, and it’s actually more helpful than you might think. Common uses include price shopping to reset sale timers and access local-only pricing and overriding usage limits on certain sites. Some sites use cookies to control your free trials and private browsing can help you get around that. For example, some news sites limit you to 5 free articles a month unless you pay. Private browsing can extend that trial quite easily!

The downsides: It can’t pre-fill saved passwords and it won’t help you type in the website name even if you’ve been there before.

3. Think about who’s watching While you might be naturally careful when using a public computer have you thought about who’s watching what you do on your work computer? Some workplaces have employee monitoring software that tracks all sorts of data, including taking screenshots of your desktop. It helps them create rules about computer usage but it may also provide them with evidence you’ve been breaking those rules. Stepping out to the internet cafe can be even more risky, as people can install keyloggers that record every keystroke, including your credit card numbers and logins. You’ll never know your activities are being recorded, even if you use private browsing.

The downsides: None. Awareness of the risks and the possibility of being watched ensures you’re more likely to use the internet safely.

While private browsing can help keep your internet usage under wraps, it’s not a magic bullet to cover all possibilities. Many people believe they’re invisible AND invulnerable while private browsing, a mistake they end up paying for. You’ll still need solid anti-virus and password habits to protect against threat, and to be a smart internet user who avoids suspect websites. Consider the options above as privacy-enhancing measures, not one-stop solutions.

Need help with your online privacy? Give us a call at 515-422-1995.

Travel with Your Tech What You Need to Know

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Taking a business trip can be stressful at the best of times. Whether you’re off for an overnight conference, a week’s partnership, or a longer project, you essentially pick up your entire business and take it on the road. Besides showing up in the appropriate clothing (which you absolutely packed, right?), keeping your tech up and running becomes your number 1 priority. Take a look at our tech tips for business travelers:

Be careful with free WiFi

Most hotels have free WiFi, as do libraries, cafes, and bookstores. It’s now easy for any business to open their WiFi to the public with or without a catchy password. Unfortunately, that convenience can come at a huge cost. The wireless network you use to check your email while relaxing with a latte could be operated by a hacker. Most of the time, even the wait staff at the café wouldn’t be able to tell the difference either.

Even if you connect to a password secured network, someone could easily capture your information as it travels through the air. In short, If you don’t own the network, you can’t trust it! Using a VPN (like ProXPN or TunnelBear) can help tremendously, and once connected make sure the sites you visit have the little HTTPS lock icon in the browser window.

Connect via your cell phone

Hotel WiFi is notorious for being slow or insanely expensive. You may find that your mobile phone allows you to tether or hotspot a connection. That means you connect your laptop to your phone via WiFi or cable and piggyback on its mobile internet connection. Many carriers and phones allow this, but not all. Just be aware of how much data your plan allows as a computer can use a lot of data in one night of surfing! Also, if you’re in a foreign country it can also be worthwhile getting a local SIM card rather than pay expensive data roaming charges. It’s a good idea to check with your mobile provider before leaving to find out what charges and limits you will have when traveling.

Don’t forget power adapters

You’ve seen it before…people scrounging around for a charger or cable, huddling around in groups until their device has enough juice to get them through a few more hours. Of course, it’s only funny when it happens to other people. Be sure to pack your correct power adapters and cables, along with any plug/voltage converters required to match your destination. It’s worth carrying your USB charging cables on your person, as many planes and airport shops now offer a place for you to plug in for a quick boost. Personally, I would not plug directly into an unknown USB port, you never know what kind of data may be traveling through that cable!

Have plans for being offline

Sometimes you simply can’t get online, which will do you no good when you’re checking into a hotel and your booking details are tucked safely away in your cloud email. You can print out essential travel and business details on paper, but if you have a lot or don’t want to carry them, you can also save them to a document. Emails can be copied and pasted into a Word document, or you can print to PDF by pressing Print > Save to PDF (or similar). Many apps also have an offline mode that allows you to store the information on your computer, including Evernote and Netflix.

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