(first and foremost, sorry in advance, I’m not a native English speaker)
So, it’s weird, but this whole situation with the Russian - Ukrainian conflict is now worrying me even when I’m on my computer.
From the last news in my country (Italy) we’re being warned about some malware attacks from Russia, so, since I’ve been at inches from buying a VPN subscription in the last 2 years, I was wondering: a VPN could help me with that?
I’ve seen those adverts too where they claim by some miracle that a VPN will block adverts, stop viruses, etc… VPN’s don’t work that way, that’s other software bundled in with the VPN.
Only you can protect yourself from viruses
A better option is to just get a good adblocker, to which I recommend uBlock Origin for your web browser. Blocking ads and even malicious websites/URLs will dramatically lower your chances at getting malware, but not all of it. You need to do other things like avoiding sketchy emails (this is how a lot of corporations fall victim to malware) and keeping your computer OS, software and ideally hardware up to date.
Nah, just use common sense and windows defender and you’ll be fine. Having a VPN is nice though.
Be careful what you click. Be careful what you download. A VPN won’t help protect you from Russia unless you are connecting to public WiFi in a Russian hotel.
I think the only thing a VPN would help with is allowing you to get around the internet blocks that are being implemented.
A VPN will not protect you from email phishing, visiting a bad actor website, or installing any program on your computers in your network. A VPN intention is to secure connections between systems on different networks.
Antivirus software can help you with detecting viruses, but they depend on updates when new threats are identified.
If you have an old router you might consider getting a new one that updates it’s security. One of the bigger security risks these days is all those cool gadgets we connect to our wifi and a bunch of old routers that don’t ever get updates.
Routers can last a long time. Older routers have firmware you have to manually update AND most router makers don’t bother making many updates for old router. That’s why these days I prefer routers that get updates for at least a couple years. I went with the Google Mesh router because I figured I’d go brand name and needed Mesh I don’t need a ‘gaming router’ or whatever.
I feel like VPN is a mess that just makes you more vulnerable considering you break a lot of the protections the browsers have to stop phishing and malware. It’s better for security if you’re connecting from the same couple spots so your IP and location tracking work right, imo.
VPN is also kind of pain, doesn’t work with all sites and adds lag to everything you do online.
If you really want to, you’ll be better off buying an antivirus
More like they want to ensure Ukrainians will remain in their sphere of influence (ie selling their resources for a fraction of the price) whatever Ukrainians want it or not. After all, Moskals do have a long tradition of subduing Ukrainians. If not by direct violence, then by starvation.
And as rem: no vpn or other software can protect you if you use an administrator account for everything and run software from disputable source and you don’t even bother updating your operating system and software