VPN Usage is Surging for Entertainment, Not Privacy Concerns
Can providers handle the new influx of pandemic usage?
Atlas VPN, a personal and business VPN provider, recently published data usage statistics for their service. This rare release of internal information has allowed an inside look at how people are reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, connects the user’s device to a third party server in a seperate location- the device, in turn, connects to the internet or specific network from that server. This can have a range of benefits, including a hidden IP, change in apparent access location, and increased security from hackers. The most popular consumer brands include NordVPN, Express VPN, CyberGhost, and Norton Secure VPN.
Atlas found that VPN usage in Italy had surged by 112% in one week, and 53% in the United States. This pattern holds true in all countries significantly affected by the virus — a usage increase of 36% in Russia, 38% in Iran, 29% in Germany, and 21% in France. Atlas projects that United States usage could increase by a staggering 150% in the coming weeks.
With an increasing number of companies asking employees to work from home, demand for VPN services is skyrocketing. Larger companies have business VPNs that allow employees to connect to the secure company network from anywhere with an internet connection. Small businesses are asking their workers to utilize the benefits of a personal VPN when working from home in order to promote data security at home.
Privacy and Security: Hallmarks of a VPN
When businesses facilitate VPN usage, are they being overprotective or irrational? As it turns out, not at all. Kaspersky extracted data on RDP attacks before and after the outbreak and found a frightening pattern.
An RDP attack, or remote data protocol attack, is a common hacking method to deploy ransomware on an unsuspecting system by way of remote computer control. Hackers tend to use a brute force attack to get login credentials, then hold personal information hostage. This form of attack can be devastating to individual privacy, security, and financial health.
In the United States alone, RDP attacks increased in frequency by 330% since the global pandemic gained widespread attention around March 9th of this year. Spain saw an increase in brute-force attacks of over 500% from March 9th to March 20th.
This represents an unprecedented number of attacks, meaning that personal and company-wide cybersecurity is more at risk than ever before.
A possible explanation for the frequency of these attacks is the apparent spike in corporate traffic volume on Microsoft RDP, which employees around the world are using to gain remote access to official workstations at the office. Many at-home workers are logging in from unprotected networks, essentially making their systems sitting ducks for cybercriminals.
Out of the seven countries represented in the data, there have been over 148 million attacks from the beginning of the lockdown on March 10 to April 15.
In the current climate of increased cyberattacks, a VPN for those using RDP or those who carry sensitive information on their devices (probably most of us) is essential. A VPN does an excellent job of protecting from RDP and other types of cyberattacks by hiding your real IP address, blocking an attacker from easily targeting your system. Though it is still possible, a successful attack is far less likely to occur when the potential victim is using a VPN. Both personal and sensitive data becomes private and secure.
Motivations for VPN Use
Across the world, 31% of internet users take advantage of a VPN. This service is widely popular and growing very quickly, especially with the global pandemic pushing users online for greater periods of time.
People use VPNs for a wide range of reasons, anything from breaching geofences (accessing content specifically available to one country- a popular method of accessing content on services like Netflix) to upgrading security when browsing online. The application for a VPN service is broad and can differ between different companies.
Not all VPNs cost a pretty penny, though. There are many services that cost nothing to the user (with the exception of information) that are praised consistently by internet users. According to the Global VPN Usage Report 2020, 72% of users from the U.S. or U.K. have a free VPN, with only the remaining 36% using a paid service.
Security is an extreme issue in the internet landscape of today. However, the reason people use VPNs tends to differ from this traditional understanding of the benefit of such applications. Global Web Index found that “Access to better entertainment content” was the number one motivation for VPN usage worldwide, followed by “Access social networks, or news services”. These motivations are a long way from security. This has to do with a VPN’s capability to hop geofences with ease, allowing for a French user to access U.S. Hulu offerings, or a Canadian user to browse Japanese Facebook.
Given the frequency of cyberattacks in recent weeks, this is a strange thing to hear; people don’t seem to use VPNs just for security, and in fact, care more about access to entertainment and social media.
The Global VPN Usage Report 2020 gives the top motivations for consumers to use a VPN in Q1 of this year.
23% of users are motivated by access to download/stream/torrent sites
22% of users are motivated by access to better entertainment content
22% of users are motivated by access to files/services when at work
18% of users are motivated by access to censored websites/content
When it comes to the recent jump in VPN usage, the factors responsible are first and foremost consumers spending more time online and wanting access to a broader range of entertainment and content. Working from home is the second greatest contributing factor to the sharp increase in usage. It seems that VPN consumers are generally motivated by entertainment, not security concerns or fear of cyberattacks.
High Usage Strains Servers
With such a drastic increase in usage, servers may run into some trouble when accomodating. S&P global asked Dinha, an OpenVPN representative, about the possibility of issues. Dinha said that companies have had to purchase new licenses and hardware to keep up with more users. However, providers have larger issues than their clients:
“Some VPNs are based on proprietary hardware that can only manage a certain number of users,” “If you throw thousands of new users on hardware that can only manage 200, there are certainly going to be issues.”
In another interview with S&P Global, Principal Security Analyst at 415 Research Garrett Bekker gave his input on the potential problem.
“Most companies have not historically given VPN access to their entire workforce, so it’s safe to say that the services they use are not really set up to suddenly accommodate so many people”
Bekker seems to think that companies may start to understand the value of the remote-work concept and continue to adopt it even after the pandemic is over.
The fact that change is upon the world is undeniable. The VPN/proxy server industry may be an instrumental part of that change, becoming the new normal for protecting and enabling every internet user and from-home worker in the time to come.
