The versatility and usefulness of the Internet in these times is beyond any doubt. But we must take certain precautions if we do not want to take risks when sailing. All kinds of attackers are lurking to get hold of our personal data or even take control of our computers.
This is precisely where such important elements as privacy and security come into play. Two terms that in recent years have gained special relevance in everything related to the online sector. The use of the Internet, as most of you already know first-hand, does not stop growing in every sense.
For most users, it has already become commonplace to spend their leisure time on video and music services via streaming. And the same thing happens with purchases, since electronic commerce has grown exponentially in recent times. But for all this we must take some precautions and not navigate like crazy, if we do not want to put our equipment and data at risk.
If we focus on privacy, in most cases we want to avoid all types of tracking and storage of personal data. This is something carried out by the programs we use, platforms, or web pages we visit. And an increasing number of users prefer to avoid it in one way or another.
The best solution to browse with privacy
There are many users who still think that by using a private browser window, they are freed from this type of tracking and data storage. However, this is not the best option when it comes to moving around the Internet with the sufficient privacy that many seek. The so-called incognito windows are of enormous help if we are going to use a browser on a third-party computer, so that certain information such as browsing history or passwords are not stored, but little else.
If we are looking to browse privately with all the guarantees, the best thing we can do is opt for a VPN or Virtual Private Network service. These platforms have been growing like crazy in recent times and we can access multiple services with these characteristics. In addition, we can use all of this in the form of browser extensions, programs that we install on the PC or web pages that offer us these advantages.
Perhaps the most striking thing about all of this is that we cannot find both free and paid VPN platforms, which can lead to certain doubts when choosing one or the other.
Obviously, the companies that offer us these services need to make their projects profitable. Hence precisely the monthly or annual payment that many VPNs offer us, as happens with other Internet platforms. But to save on these subscriptions that we mentioned to the Virtual Private Network, many users around the world choose to use a free platform with these characteristics.
A free VPN is not always the best option
In this way, what users achieve is to browse with privacy, or at least that is what they believe, both from their desktop computers and from their mobile phones. But of course, the top managers and developers of these platforms need to monetize their projects in one way or another. Hence, it has been warned for some time that free virtual private networks are not always the best option.
The main reason for all this is that a series of studies and tests have been carried out that show that a large part of free virtual private networks leak data from their users. The recent study carried out by the website specialized in these services, Top10vpn, serves as a clear example of all this. To give you a better idea, it has been discovered that around 88% of platforms of this type on Android leak data such as IPs, DNS, etc. Furthermore, almost 20% carry out multiple leaks of this information.
And that’s not all, since 77% of free VPNs share this user data with third parties, such as Facebook. This may make many rethink the free use of this type of services, initially focused on privacy. Today, the download and installation of applications of this type on Android exceeds 2.5 billion. Basically, that means that the data extracted from this report is quite worrying.
