Here's why you probably don't need to rely on a VPN anymore [View all]

VPNs, or virtual private networks, continue to be used by millions of people as a way of masking their internet activity by encrypting their location and web traffic.

But on the modern internet, most people can safely ditch them, thanks to the widespread use of encryption that has made public internet connections far less of a security threat, cybersecurity experts say.

“Most commercial VPNs are snake oil from a security standpoint,” said Nicholas Weaver, a cybersecurity lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. “They don’t improve your security at all.”

It’s a development that highlights how the cybersecurity landscape has changed: Hackers are less likely to target people’s individual devices and instead focus on the login information to their most important accounts.

For years, experts warned it was dangerous for average people to use the Wi-Fi at a public place like a coffee shop without taking steps to obscure their internet traffic. Someone sharing a Wi-Fi network with strangers was essentially sharing all their traffic with others who were using it. If someone decided to check their bank balance, for example, they ran the risk of a nearby hacker being able to steal sensitive information.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/vpns-encryption-wifi-rcna9348