What's The Difference Between VPN And Proxy?

Cybersecurity has been a major concern for most of us over the past few years. Everyone is worried about their data privacy in the inter-web since we all are hearing news about massive data breaches and targeted hacking through social engineering etc😵. If you ever went searching for ways to protect data privacy, you might have heard about the VPN (Virtual Private Network) services and proxies. So what exactly is the difference between these two? and which one should you use. I will be explaining the same in this post👍.

The difference

We all know that both of these are known for masking your true IP address so that the requests that you made will appear as it came from somewhere else. But the major difference is that VPN encrypts all the data traffic where the proxy does nothing to secure the data by any means☹. Other differences are:

⭕Usually while proxy has to be enabled manually by entering the IP address and port id, you can enable the VPN automatically with 2-3 clicks.

⭕Most of the time proxy keeps detailed user log data whereas VPN provide the facility of being log-less.

⭕Once enabled, VPN applies to the entire device while proxy only affects your internet browser.

Which one should you use?

If all you want is to unlock a geo-restricted website, proxy is good enough for you. But if you are doing anything other than that like entering credit card info or any sensitive information, proxies are no good for you. In that case, you should use the VPN since it supports encryptions like 256 bit AES which is well-accepted universally✔. You should also use a VPN if you are connected in a public Wi-Fi. Otherwise anyone who is connected to the same network can see your traffic too😖. So be smart, use a VPN whenever it’s required depending on your situation. Bonne journée😜