Many people use both proxies and VPNs for security reasons, in fact you’re unlikely to be able to connect to most corporate networks remotely without using one. However for those who are really concerned with security and privacy there is one small drawback about using a commercial proxy or VPN – the fact that you need to redirect your connection through a single point.
Think about it, without using a VPN then there’s only one common point and that’s through your ISPs gateway, and although a VPN will prevent them keeping detailed log – you are still introducing another bottleneck. A configured proxy or VPN can add to security but it also introduces a single location for your records.
Although if you use something like Identity Cloaker, they delete all logs anyway, for some this is slightly disconcerting. Fortunately Identity Cloaker and a couple of the other VPN companies have a system to allow you to rectify this – here’s the details in this video – Is VPN safe.
What the system does is to automatically switch your connection between random servers every few minutes. So you could browse through a huge number of different servers automatically, basically relaying your internet connection through different countries on autopilot.
The implications are :
- Makes it less visible that you are using a remote proxy/vpn, simply because all your traffic won’t be being routed through a single IP address.
- Reduces the risk of data or activity being logged on a single server.
- Increases the security of your internet connection substantially.
The downsides are obviously the interruptions in your connection as one VPN connection is disconnected and another established which is obviously something you must consider. IN mitigation of these delays you could restrict the switching between fast servers near to you or servers in a specific country.