Can a VPN protect passwords?

To maintain security when browsing, protect our accounts and avoid attacks, we can use different programs and services. However, they are not always going to protect us as we believe or hope. Something like this happens with VPNs , which are very useful applications in many cases, but they are not always going to act as we expect. Could you protect our passwords when browsing? We are going to talk about this in this article.

VPNs don’t work miracles to protect passwords

Can a VPN protect passwords

VPN programs are widely used to surf the Internet today. They serve to encrypt connections, avoid exposing certain data and thus improve privacy. Many times it is related to safety, and the truth is that in part it can help improve it. But if we think about protecting the keys, it is not an application that acts as a shield.

Why aren’t VPNs going to prevent password theft? Let’s think about the number of methods an attacker can use to steal passwords. For example Phishing attacks . Even if we browse through a VPN, we can still access a fake page, created simply to steal data, without our realizing it.

In addition, a VPN does not act as an antivirus, preventing the entry of malware and removing it in case the system is infected. We can download without realizing a program or file that contains a keylogger, which is a type of malware that is responsible for recording all the keystrokes that we put on the keyboard and, in this way, collect user names and passwords.

On the other hand, this type of program will not do anything to protect us if our password is weak or has been exposed on the Internet. Its mission is not that, since it is really in charge of encrypting the connection and acting as an intermediary between our team and the servers we are accessing, such as those of a web page.

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When will a VPN protect passwords and personal data?

Although a VPN is not going to do any kind of miracle so that passwords are safe on the Internet, it must be mentioned that there is the possibility that it protects us in certain circumstances and helps our keys to be safe and not stolen.

This happens if, for example, we are browsing a web page that is not encrypted , where we have to log in, and we are also doing it from a public Wi-Fi network that a hacker who has the ability to steal everything has been able to enter that information.

Let’s say for example that we are in a shopping center, with our computer connected to a network that says “free Wi-Fi” and we don’t really know where it comes from. That wireless network could have been created by anyone to collect browsing data, something that can happen if we enter unencrypted websites. There are ways to have Internet travel insurance, to avoid these circumstances.

What a VPN does is encrypt that connection . Everything we send is going to travel in a kind of tunnel, without that hypothetical attacker being able to read what we send and receive. Therefore, in this case, it could help protect passwords when browsing the net.

In short, a VPN is a very interesting tool that we can use to improve privacy and even security when browsing the Internet, but we should not expect miracles in terms of protecting our data or passwords. In addition, it is useful to know the main problems of VPNs.