BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

How Cybersecurity Is Turning Users Into Security Experts

This article is more than 4 years old.

© 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP

When I moved to China in 2014, using the internet through VPN (Virtual Private Network) was a necessity to get around the country’s Great Firewall that notoriously blocks access to YouTube, Gmail, and many other websites. Today, however, VPN is now considered a bare necessity for travel and security. In fact, the assumption is that if you aren’t surfing the net with VPN, then you are not properly protecting your private data.

According to TechrRadar earlier this week, Mozilla and Firefox are on the verge of changing the VPN market with the expiration of its search royalties contract next year. And Surfshark intends to launch two new products in relation to its VPN services: HackLock, an ID protection mechanism which detects the traces of hacked personal information a private search tool called BlindSearch.  There is even a specific VPN for watching Netflix and other streaming services which are blocked in various countries.

Overall, it is clear that VPN is becoming a permanent fixture for many users as more countries are passing laws with restrictions on free speech while creating an internet that is less free and more balkanized.  For instance, Russia is about to block nine different VPNs for failing to comply with the government’s censorship requirement and Saudi Arabia has already censored content on Netflix. If you travel to or live in these countries or if you any form of public WiFi, VPN is as much a staple as a mobile or laptop.  Companies like Pro Privacy warn about the dangers of vacationers putting their data at risk with 75% of American vacationers failing to take precautions.  Today VPN is no longer perceived as a gimmicky add-on, sold to make people paranoid about Big Brother’s surveillance.

Aside from the surge in VPN products on the market in recent years, what is interesting is how VPN is being sold as a cyber-security product in an era of increasing state surveillance and cyber attacks by hackers. While Edward Snowden’s documents demonstrate that even the NSA has a functioning VPN decryption infrastructure, VPN is still considered today the best low-tech tool for digital security. “With VPN, attacks over a public Wi-Fi are much harder to mount,” says Laura K. Inamedinova, editorial advisor at cybersecurity and online privacy website VPNpro, adding, “We try to educate people about the risks of having unsecured Internet access. Fortunately, in recent years, we see a big shift people mindset and increased usage of VPN providers.” In this way, private users are made to feel like security specialists of their own data as VPN is offered today as a necessary add-on where many companies have invested in proprietary VPN for their platforms.

Still, questions remain since VPN can potentially help internet users retain their privacy or it can double as a spying operation. Facebook announced earlier this year that it was shutting down its Onavo VPN app in light of the privacy breaches of its app, now considered spyware, which allowed Facebook to monitor the time teens spent online, the mobile/WiFi data used and the websites accessed. All this without parental consent. Where many users are more concerned about hackers and government spying, the recent data scandals involving tech giants and government spying are cause for concern.

This is where many internet users have had to wear several hats regarding their network security within their own homes and devices and increasingly so with smart homes where accessing routers with wireless doorbells has never been easier. As VPN becomes a regular mechanism for everything that does not require high speeds, many users are careful to read up on which platforms offer the best bang for their buck, which VPNs use tunneling and which free VPN won’t sell your data to third-parties. Another irony is that over half of popular VPNs are Chinese-owned and one study has shown that many of the more popular VPNs state clearly that user dater is being shared.

The reality is that the culture of internet has changed so rapidly over the past twenty-five years where security today is the primary concern for developers as opposed to the mid-1990s where the chief issues were slow connection speeds. And perhaps we ought to look at the parallel situations post-9/11 where security is not only a concern aimed at data and new technology, but it is a quotidian social and political issue. Today the technical and the cultural mirror each other perfectly as each user becomes the "chief of security" for their data protection as new apps and tech news are constantly alerting us as to the dangers of everything from radiation to 5G networks.

While there are no perfect solutions on the horizon since the originators of the internet did not foresee the abuses of the net, the lessons to be learned in both political and technical spheres both pivot back to security. Ultimately, it is the individual user who will decide what security measures are necessary and how much to heed real and potential dangers.

Check out my website