Day: December 17, 2024

Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are now widely used to add extra security to online connections, to improve privacy when browsing, and to spoof location information—they can even be set up at the router level to protect every device on the network. And if you’ve got one installed, you need to be aware of one of their key features: the kill switch.

To begin with, it’s important to bear in mind that a VPN doesn’t make you anonymous online. If you log in to Amazon, Amazon will still keep track of what you’re looking at and what you’re buying. If you’re signed in to Google and Chrome, your searches and online activity will get logged as normal.

However, with a VPN enabled, your devices don’t connect directly to websites and servers. Instead, they establish encrypted connections to nodes set up by your VPN provider of choice, and you connect to your intended destinations from there: That means the sites you visit and the apps you use can’t as easily pin down where you’re located and what devices you’re using.

It also makes it a lot harder for other people to see what you’re doing online, whether it’s a coffee shop Wi-Fi hacker, your internet provider, or a government agency. All they see is you connecting to the VPN you’ve chosen and not whatever you do after that. So the best VPNs won’t make you anonymous, but they will make your browsing more private and secure.

What Is a VPN Kill Switch?

A kill switch kicks in when a VPN loses connection.

Courtesy of David Nield

Now that we’ve established what a VPN is and what a VPN does, we can talk about the kill switch. Kill switches are necessary because VPN servers aren’t infallible: They can and do go down, even with the best VPNs. Something unexpected might also happen at your end, breaking the connection you’ve established with your VPN provider.