What is the Kill Switch feature offered by VPN services and what is its benefit that makes it paid and not free?
In the Arab world, VPNs are often used for various reasons, whether because you're restricted from accessing content in your country or because you want to further secure your connection. However, there's a growing demand for free, limited-use VPN services, which often don't offer adequate security, especially since they don't come with a built-in kill switch. If you're not familiar with this feature and its importance, we'll explain.
What is a kill switch?
Professional VPN services come with advanced features, and this feature is often added to encourage you to purchase the service. It is related to security and helps secure your device when the VPN is disconnected for any reason.
What it does is encrypt your data streams when you connect to the VPN. If someone wants to spy on you, they can't because your data is encrypted. However, when the connection is interrupted, your device will revert to unencrypted mode, and your IP address will be exposed. This is where the Kill Switch comes in, cutting off any online activity that isn't done through the VPN.
Why is Kill Switch available on paid VPN services?
This is precisely because it enhances security. However, it is not important for everyone but only for those who use a VPN for espionage, fraud, etc., to prevent detection.
The feature is offered in paid services such as ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, VyprVPN, PureVPN, and NordVPN; however, make sure to enable it from the settings for it to work for you.
Many of the best VPNs on the market, like the ones we mentioned above, have a built-in kill switch. We can configure this to protect us in case of a service outage. It's incredibly useful and can be configured on both desktop and mobile devices.
One of the main reasons to use a VPN with a kill switch is to connect to public Wi-Fi networks with complete security. A single second of this type of disconnection would be enough to render your connection unsafe, potentially leaving you vulnerable to attackers connected to that wireless network. The kill switch is designed to address this problem.
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