Digital tracking, cybercriminals, and exposure of personal data are now more than ever real risks for anyone who connects to the internet. Every time we do so, we leave behind a trail of data that can be used by third parties and lead to digital identity theft, unauthorized account access, or even the loss of sensitive data, among other things.
This is why protecting online privacy should not be a concern exclusive to the corporate world. Whether you work with customer data, check your personal email, or use social media, we are all vulnerable to some type of attack or data breach. For this reason, more and more people are turning to solutions like a VPN service to keep their information safe while browsing the internet.
This type of service is specifically designed to encrypt connections and prevent third parties from accessing or tracking the data being transmitted, whether at home, using mobile data, or connecting to Wi-Fi networks — even public ones, where what seems like a fast and free connection can actually be an entry point for someone with malicious intent. In fact, in these cases, the attacker doesn't even need advanced knowledge. There are tools readily available online that allow data packet interception and spying without leaving a trace.
The Value of Our Digital Footprint
Exposure isn’t always visible, and often cybercriminals and digital trackers silently collect information about our location, browsing habits, and the platforms we use. This data is not only sold to third parties for advertising purposes but can also end up in vulnerable or leaked databases, making any user — personal or professional — a potential target. All this information is a valuable asset, and as such, it should be protected with a basic cybersecurity structure, in which a VPN helps us take control of our digital footprint.
Key Benefits of Using a VPN
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a tool that encrypts traffic between your device and the internet and acts as a shield, ensuring that the information you send and receive cannot be read or intercepted by third parties:
- End-to-end encryption: All data leaving your computer or phone travels through a secure tunnel, inaccessible to data miners and hackers.
- Hiding your real IP address: By browsing through secure servers, your original IP is masked, making tracking more difficult and enhancing online anonymity.
- Protection on public networks: You can safely connect to Wi-Fi in airports, cafes, universities, coworking spaces, hospitals, etc., without exposing your professional information.
- Reduced tracking from cookies and invisible scripts: By changing your virtual location, encrypting data, and routing it through secure servers, much of the commercial or malicious tracking is blocked.
How Can I Know If I’ve Been Hacked — and How Can I Protect Myself?
It’s not just about prevention — it’s about ensuring that what we do online, now and always, remains our business. That’s why protecting real-time traffic alone is not enough. We should regularly change all our passwords, although if our data has already been leaked, there may be little we can do. For this reason, many users complement their VPN with an online privacy service to track whether their information has been compromised in any known data breach or vulnerability.
These solutions continuously monitor whether our digital identity has suffered any security breach and has been compromised. Moreover, it’s a simple way to find out if your passwords, email addresses, or confidential data have appeared in databases exposed on the internet.
Online privacy services alert us to identity theft attempts, unauthorized use of personal data, and the most advanced solutions also allow us to stop any detected leak and remove exposed sensitive information, reducing the chance of abuse.
Clearly, as digitalization progresses, the need to protect ourselves grows too — and solutions like VPNs and online privacy services can make the difference between keeping our connections secure and our digital identity protected, or being exposed.
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