Thursday, December 12, 2024
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How to stay safe when using public Wi-Fi: VPN benefits for travelers

Vacation season is in full bloom, and still, many travelers keep getting their identities stolen due to careless use of public Wi-Fi. Free wireless networks are not able to offer security in most cases since public Wi-Fi can be hacked into very easily. 

According to the folks at NordVPN, the solution to online safety while traveling is a VPN – which not only protects users on public Wi-Fi but also allows to access restricted sites and even save money while traveling. Here’s a list of the reasons they say every Internet user should use a VPN when traveling:

Protect your online activities when you are using public Wi-Fi. The most common threat is a hacker positioning himself as a hotspot. When that happens, a Wi-Fi user will be sending their information to the criminal, and that could include credit card information, all emails, and any other sensitive information they might be transmitting. This is extremely easy for hackers to do, as Wi-Fi spots rarely require authentication to establish a connection. When using a VPN, the Internet traffic between the user’s computer and a VPN server gets encrypted into a secure tunnel, so nothing will be visible to someone trying to hack into the computer.

Access restricted sites: Facebook in Vietnam, Telegram in Russia, gaming sites in Morocco and multiple others sites are banned, depending on a country. A VPN enables users to connect to a server in a country where these sites are allowed, such as the U.S., and the user will be able to browse the Internet as if they were in the U.S. physically.

Access your favorite TV shows or sports event from abroad: With a VPN, you can watch your local TV shows or stream such sporting events as FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world.

Save money on flights. Sometimes for no apparent reason tickets bought from one country cost less than booked from another one. You have to experiment by switching between different countries with a VPN to find the lowest airfare. Travel websites use cookies to track how many times a visitor comes to their particular site and how much time they spend. If they don’t book immediately, the same person might return to a higher price in just a matter of minutes – the site has determined that they want to book the flight anyway, so will accept the higher rate. 

The trick is to make it appear that you’re accessing the booking website from another country, the one where you can buy the same tickets at a lower price. The solution is to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network).


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Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.