More than ever, acquiring a VPN is Very Pressing Now

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping access to data

Protecting our personal data from prying eyes is fast becoming a must for all Australians. Over recent years, The Australian Government have taken a series of steps to expand the boundaries of the Telecommunications Act 1979, which already forced ISPs to store our personal data for a period of two years. Using the threat of terrorism and other large-scale criminal acts as a pretext to gain greater access under wider sets of circumstances, it’s become increasingly apparent that our ‘leaders’ will go to any lengths to spy on Australian citizens.

Thanks to the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018 —a piece of legislation that somehow sounds simultaneously sinister and vague— a new subset of government agencies were granted unfettered access to encrypted messages, such as those sent over the allegedly secure WhatsApp. Coupled with the equally ominous/imprecise Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2019, the powers-that-be can now access our data at any time without appropriate judicial oversight and sift through it at will, treating each and every one of us as if we’re terrorists and thieves.

In other words, if the sum-total of all personal data belonging to all Australians lived in a large lake, then The Australian Government and their associated agencies now own a drop net the size of that entire lake. We are now a sunburned country; a land of sweeping access to data – and it’s high-time we stand up and do something about it.

Enter the Virtual Private Network

The ease with which the new Australian police state can invade our personal lives is countered by the ease with which we can take back our right to privacy. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an easy-to-access, easy-to-install and easy-to-use solution that cuts off outside reach at the root. When your online activities are shielded by a VPN, governmental attempts at spying and corporate attempts at stealing data and using it for both profit and unknown, nefarious purposes – are rendered futile.

What is a Virtual Private Network? Essentially, when you connect to a VPN, you connect to your VPN provider’s server and are allocated their IP address, while your own is hidden from view. This means that your location and identity are no longer discoverable, so no matter what you’re doing or saying online, third-parties have no way of tracing the data back to your device.

The only question remains is… which VPN provider do I choose?

Not all VPNs are created even remotely equal

VPN providers advertise everywhere and they all promise complete, comprehensive security and privacy. The truth is, that not all VPNs are created equal. Many free and mobile VPNs trade in unsafe protocols and log user activity. These less-than-transparent providers are capitalising on the VPN boom, banking on the fact that most users will take any claim of protection on face value without conducting any further research. In reality, a poorly implemented VPN leaves users open to viruses, privacy violations and cyber-attacks.

The Risk Index recently conducted a survey of the 150 most popular free VPN Android apps and found that 85% featured “excessive permissions or functions with potential for privacy abuses”, 1 in 4 failed to “protect user privacy due to DNS and other leaks” and on the whole, the sample size showed a “long list of other security flaws and performance issues.” Considering that more and more Australians are turning to VPNs in order to protect their data, these findings are that much more concerning and vigilance is that much more necessary.

So who can you turn to when trust is important and privacy is critical?

Thankfully, trustworthy, airtight VPNs are out there – such as Mullvad VPN. Mullvad is a cost-conscious, open-source VPN that was built with complete privacy and security in mind. They don’t keep activity logs, they don’t ask for private information and even encourage purchasing anonymity through cash or cryptocurrency payments. When you use Mullvad, all traffic to and from your computer is encrypted to the highest standard, whether at home or using a public WiFi. And no matter what you do or say online, none of it is traceable back to you.

NCrypt Cellular partners with only the best and most reliable security and privacy experts and we are happy to have added Mullvad VPN to our range of industry-leading encryption solutions. You can find out more about Mullvad and/or begin the simple installation process on our web-shop.

The leaders of our country and industry have managed to increase their powers tenfold over the past few years and we can therefore only imagine how much more invasive circumstances will become over the next few. Now is your chance to cut these oppressive powers off at the pass by taking back what was, is and should always remain yours.