A virtual private network (VPN) establishes a secure connection between your computer and the VPN server in the internet. This means that no one besides the VPN provider can see your traffic, so you can browse the internet without other people on an unprotected Wifi network or your internet service provider seeing what you do. Ithaca College’s GlobalProtect VPN does not provide all of these features, so this article contains recommendations for 3rd party VPN providers.
Platforms
Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android
Contents
How is this different from the GlobalProtect VPN provided by IC?
The GlobalProtect VPN (link to guide) is a split tunnel VPN. That means it sends your internet traffic to different places depending on its destination. Connecting to on-campus resources like Mentor takes place over the VPN, but traffic to the internet goes directly from your computer to that website.
In contrast, the VPN providers listed here encrypt all of your internet traffic between your computer and their servers.
Paid vs. Free VPNs
We do not recommend using any free VPN services (with the exception of free trials for paid services). Companies offering a free VPN are incurring costs to do so, so they get revenue by selling your personal data. Make sure to always read the privacy policy before signing up for a service, and consider that if it’s free, you might be the product.
What to Look for in a VPN Provider
- How many devices can you connect? Being able to use your computer, smart phone, and other devices on the VPN adds convenience and improves security.
- What kind of logs does the service keep? If you are concerned about privacy, read the privacy policy of the service and see whether they keep logs of connection data.
- Performance: Will your connection speeds suffer when using the VPN?
- Advertising: Avoid providers that inject ads into your browsing. You might want to also look for providers that offer ad-blocking if you don’t already block ads in your browser.
VPN Recommendations and Further Reading