In the past two years, there has been a rise in the use of VPN apps on students’ phones to access blocked apps such as Snapchat and Instagram. This wide adoption renders the school’s security measures useless. The issue, however, is many students don’t understand how VPN services work and the potential harm they can bring. Senior Subrat Acharya says, “People think that VPN service only unblock sites. It’s more complicated than that.”

VPN stands for virtual private network. It works by connecting devices to a separate network that channels all the data through. They were initially used in corporate applications. Large companies use VPNs so that communication stays confidential; this way, the data stays protected.

VPNs not only route data through a different path but they also remove geographic barriers. Since the data is tunneled through a different server, it also masks your location. For example, when one uses Google search while connected to Betternet and all the search results are in Arabic, this is the reason.

Many VPN services promise secure connections and privacy protection; they are generally based off a monthly subscription service and because they are paid, they provide a secure network. Most students at our schools don’t purchase subscription services. They instead use the free versions of the app which puts their devices at risk. Free VPN services profit by displaying popup ads on your device which tend to get annoying. Some of the free companies also sell your data to profit. This is not only an invasion of privacy— the data might be used for malicious purposes as well.

While VPNs can be a very useful tool when it comes to privacy protection and unblocking websites,  they should be used with caution. Only reputable services should be used or else your data will be put at risk.