Hiding Your IP Address with VPN: What You Need To Know

Protecting your personal information and transactions online is extremely important and should be on the top of everyone’s mind. As nearly everything can be done through the internet including financial transactions, hackers have more incentives in stealing information because they don’t just get some simple personal information - credit card information and social security numbers can be stolen and used without any authorization.

Exposing Network Vulnerabilities through IP Address

One of the most important factors of the internet often ignored by online users is the IP (Internet Protocol) address. In gist, an IP address is a personal identifier assigned to every device connected to the network and/or internet. EVERY device has to have this unique data so they could be identified and connected.

Because this data is unique to every device, online attacks use IP addresses in order to penetrate a computer network and access every connected device. For example, a computer user downloads a file with malware that automatically alerts the hacker that it has penetrated a computer network with a specific IP address. The hacker can then snoop around the network and every computer with the intention of extracting every important information it could use. Worse, it could even encrypt sensitive data and demand a ransom before it could be released (ransomware).

Protecting IP Addresses with VPN

A well secured network, an updated firewall and security software should be a good start to protect every network connected device. But additional security measures could be implemented to prevent the network’s IP address from being compromised.

A VPN or Virtual Private Network is an online tool that hides a user's IP address from the websites and other online tools it uses. This is done by routing the user’s traffic through the VPN server and giving the website or online tool a different IP address.

A secured network especially in enterprise and corporate settings already has enough protections from different types of attacks such as spyware and malware. However, individual devices connected to the internet such as mobile devices are still at risk from being hacked through their IP addresses. An active VPN installed on a mobile device should be pretty effective in preventing its IP address from being leaked to a hacker or malware.

Encryption and Geo-Blocking

Aside from malware and spyware protection, a good VPN could do so much more. Among the benefits of VPN is encryption which prevents anyone from monitoring the ongoing transaction and communication.

Another benefit of VPNs is the ability to access sites and services normally blocked due to the user's location. A user could use a VPN with a server in a different country - making the website or online service think that the user is actually from the country it serves. For example, a movie blocked from the user's country becomes available by simply using a VPN server from another country.

If you’re thinking of getting a VPN, make sure to read reviews first to check which benefits you the most. Pro-version of their services will require a small fee for their services but it unlocks great security benefits and more.