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Updated October 9, 2023If you travel often, and have to rely on free internet in cafes, libraries, or hotels, investing in a VPN service is worth it. A VPN has two purposes. Many of us know it for its benefit of showing our traffic as originating from somewhere else, so you can bypass geo- or region-based filters on the internet. However, the main benefit is the secure tunnel it forms between your laptop and the VPN server.
A free, public wifi network can leak information to others on that network. When you connect to a VPN server, it will send all your traffic through a secure connection that only your device and the VPN server can see.
important Use a paid VPN service. Free VPN services are often murky on the details of how their services operate, and may put you at risk. It is possible to run your own VPN server, but that requires many technical hoops and I don’t recommend it unless you truly know what you’re doing. Instead, just pay for a service that seems trustworthy.
When looking for a VPN software, I always recommend people to the VPN comparison research and table that is maintained by the /r/VPN community on Reddit (which you can find under their subreddit’s wiki). Some of you may be using VPNs for more than just protecting yourself on a public, untrusted wifi network. This comparison can help you find the right software for you based on a rating across multiple areas like privacy, security, business practices, and pricing. Privacy Tools also does great research and provides their recommendations too.
How I manage my devices might feel closer to your reality than how I protect my email and password managers:
For my phone, I used a PIN that is over 12 numbers long. I also use biometrics as the main form of unlocking; however, my phone will always fall back to my PIN when I restart my device or if my phone thinks someone is trying to bypass their way in. For my laptop, I use a long passphrase and biometrics, and it has the same fallback.
When my family or friends need to borrow a device, I give them an old tablet or laptop that doesn’t have any of my accounts logged in. Sorry nieces, no you can’t play games on my phone. (I am not very popular at family gatherings for this reason.)