It’s Time to Stop Paying for a VPN
Simple Alternatives
So what to do? Fortunately, most of us can secure ourselves online with basic protections that, unlike VPN services, are free, Mr. Guido said.
Importantly, people should keep the software on their devices and web browsers up to date because new software updates include security protections against the latest vulnerabilities, he said.
Another crucial step is setting up online accounts with two-step verification, which requires two forms of verification of your identity before letting you log in. That safeguard can help prevent attackers from gaining access to your data if they obtain your passwords.
For those who would still prefer not to browse the web on a public Wi-Fi network, there’s an easy solution included on most smartphones. The personal hot spot, a feature for wirelessly sharing a smartphone’s cellular data connection with other devices, like your computer, can be activated in the phone’s settings. Many phone plans don’t charge extra to use this feature, though hotspotting does count against the monthly data allotment in your cellular plan.
How to Create Your Own VPN
Some people (including myself) still benefit from using a VPN, and not all providers are bad.
Wirecutter, a New York Times publication that tests products, recommends a few that are still trustworthy. But if your next VPN gets bought by a larger company, you may have to vet its trustworthiness all over again. I’m tired of the whiplash, so I created my own private network service.
I turned to Algo VPN, a free tool developed by Mr. Guido that automatically builds a VPN service in the cloud, which shields my browsing activity by allowing me to create a virtual tunnel on an outside server for my internet traffic to pass through.
Following the instructions listed on the Algo VPN project website, I set up a cloud service where my VPN service would be located on Amazon’s web services, a reputable and widely trusted cloud provider. The rest of the steps involved installing some scripts on my computer and typing in commands to generate my VPN.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/technology/personaltech/are-vpns-worth-it.html