Well even more after latest Heartbleed bug has been discovered to wider public (even it existed for several years) security once more became top priority for may users. So you definitely try to make use of secure connections whenever you can, but still most of the sites you visit still use PLAIN old unencrypted connections. And more importantly there are still a LOT of Internet surfers thinking they're identity is hidden while they sure the waves of the web. What an illusion ... You probably by now know that you're more anonymous while walking down the street than you are on the web. Your name is explicitly not stated anywhere but all the data about you are very easily traceable back to you by just looking at your IP address (no matter if it is IPv4 or newer IPv6). If for some reason you're still suspicious about what I'm writing here feel free to try Info Sniper and see for yourself what info is available about you to anyone out there.
Convinced a little bit more now?
But before I move on just a quick explanation on certain terms I use below. I won't go into details to avoid getting to technical but still enough to make sure you get a clear idea how the things work. For detailed info I've provided you links to Wikipedia so you can investigate it further if you'd like.
VPN - Virtual Private Networking - if you're currently located in US and you connect to VPN server in Netherlands you'll automatically be assigned a new VPN IP address from server located in Netherlands. Once connected any site you visit will identify you as you were located in Netherlands. On the other hand if you're within EU and connect to US server you'll gain US IP address. To sum up - VPN will enable you to virtually change your real location with a new one without any need for you to go anywhere.
IP - Internet Protocol - address - just like your social security number or any other personal identification this is something that identifies you on the Internet in a UNIQUE way. If not using specific VPN services described below, you and only you will be assigned with UNIQUE IP address. Since it is unique there is not much effort needed to link it with your real identity.
OK and now lets start talking how to gain a bit more privacy an make your IP address a bit less unique or better to say hide you in the crowd. My favorite option is using VPN services with servers located in various countries with liberate laws and VPN providers policy to keep NO LOGS about your activity. And let me try to explain why is that so.
Basic principle is pretty simple - you establish encrypted secure connection to VPN provider's server located in certain country which can be in any country provided by VPN operator and surf anonymously. But hey you'll ask how can I be anonymous when I just found out what they know about me by just inspecting my IP address?!?! The answer is pretty easy - when you connect to VPN provider you automatically get two things - first you get a new IP address from VPN service provider and you get encrypted connection between VPN provider and your computer. And the major distinction about your current assigned IP address and your new VPN assigned IP address is that in the first case ONLY you use this IP address so you are very easily identified by inspecting it. In the second case when you get VPN's new IP address a lot of other people will get exact the same IP address so not only your real location remains hidden, but also no one can directly correlate VPN's IP address with you. And at the top of it if NO LOGS are being kept there is really no way to identify any of the users.
But this is not the end of the story. By using VPN service providers will enable you to gain anonymity and extra level of security on all of your devices not just PC's or Notebooks - Smartphones are also included which is really a great feature. Also since VPN providers already have servers in various countries you'll also gain full access to different geographically limited services - mostly media streaming providers like Hulu, Netflix and others.
Before I proceed I'd just like to clear one more thing out. There are more than enough VPN prviders out there, but for sure they're definitely not the same. The ones I'm about to mention below are mentioned here because I've tried them and what is more important I've continued to use them. I've tried a lot of other VPN providers too but left them for good. And my criteria are quite simple - I appreciate anonymity and security at decent speed. OK, all that being said here is my list of favorite VPN providers I'm using:
HIDE.ME
Hide.me is one of my top favorite services. Has very fast connection speeds and servers in all most important "secure" locations. The great thing with this service you can even use absolutely free. they have servers all around the world in Europe - UK, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Romaina, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, and Singapore and Marrakech and they also have servers in Canada and US.
They provide you with the following connection protocols - IKEv2, IKEv1, OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPsec - don't get scared if you're new to this they do have a very user friendly guide to help you out and of course they have customer support to assist you. Each of mentioned protocols is explained in terms of security, stability, ease of use and speed so you can easily decide which one is the most suitable for you.
One of my favorite features is securing my smartphone while accessing Internet via WiFi or mobile data. HIDE.ME provides you with a mobile app so you can stay safe and anonymous on your Smartphone as well. It is also good to mention it will work on almost every possible operating system. I'd also like to keep this honest and say they might have a bit (yes just a bit) higher price than other VPN providers but believe me I've tried many of them and finally decided to exclusively go with HIDE.ME since no other VPN provider could match their level of service. I've probably missed some of their features but anyway my advice to you is to try them ASAP and make sure they're great anonymous VPN provider.
ibVPN
They have great VPN plans which will suit all of your needs. Thay really have a lot of servers (in 23 countries) and their prices are more than fair. They also have dedicated servers which allow P2P traffic. They also provide dynamic IP addresses in a manner I already wrote in one of my previous posts which might be interesting for you if you're looking for a way to avoid your ISP restriction or assigned static IP address. ibVPN provides support for various operating systems including your Smartphones. And I can also say their customer support is really fast and willing to help you out. If you ask me the best way to describe ibVPN service is to say they're BEST BUY. They do offer a free trial period so you can check them out at no cost.
Another reason why I especially like mentioned VPN providers is the fact I can use them (configure to work) with my DD-WRT enabled router, which provides a secure Internet connection and anonymity for all of my network devices and not just one computer which I feel a great feature too. I won't get into details how this can be done as both HIDE.ME and ibVPN have detailed instructions on how this can be done. Once you choose your anonymous and secure VPN provider and if you have DD-WRT enabled router be sure to check their instructions as they're provider specific.
As mentioned before I've also already wrote about HideMyAss VPN service prior in this post but it was related on how to enable changing your IP address even if you have a static one (or better to say if your ISP - Internet Service Provider doesn't allow you to change it on your own) so you might to check it out too.
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