Hola, for all intents and purposes, is not safe. However, it has various red flags that users need to understand before even considering acquiring the client. It is considered a “freemium” service, which means that it has both a no-cost version and a premium, paid feature. To make their money, they sell it to the highest bidder that may be, in some cases, hacking groups, or even law enforcement agencies.Īt first, everything sounds excellent with Hola.
Most free VPNs keep logs of your data without making you aware of it. How is it possible for a free VPN to make enough money to cover for these expenses and do it in such a way that they can offer quality service?
There need to be continuous investments in infrastructure, server maintenance, and security features, among others. The former doesn’t charge you anything, but their service is lacking when compared to the latter: they often have usage limits or bandwidth caps that, once you reach them, completely halt your experience and leave you unprotected for the rest of the month. VPN technology can be found online for free, or in paid, custom apps. As a bonus, VPNs can help users unblock international pages and streaming platforms that are unavailable due to geo-blocking measures. VPNs have servers and protocols to reroute the user’s IP address and shared online content through these servers, away from any potentially harmful agents such as hackers, crypto miners, malware developers, governmental surveillance agencies, and online advertising or e-commerce establishments.īecause VPN brands can mask the client’s IP address – which acts as its ID within the Internet environment – and traffic, they can offer enhanced privacy and the ability to browse the web in complete anonymity. The word is an abbreviation of Virtual Private Networks, and it refers to online apps or clients that provide encryption services to their customers.ĭata encryption is crucial these days because it offers an additional layer of security. VPN technology as a lifesaverįortunately, Internet users looking for a safer environment to interact with have a handy solution in the form of VPNs. We have to fend off hackers trying to steal our money by entering our banking accounts cybercriminals performing scams, identity thefts, or phishing attacks malware developers that range from spyware and adware to the dreaded ransomware, government censorship, geo-blocking, surveillance, and undesired online advertisers showing us ads at the worst moments. We have to deal with our Internet Service Providers logging everything we do and selling it to third parties that may use it to make a profit off our content. Users that connect to the World Wide Web today need to know that the environment isn’t the same as it was 30, 20, or even 15 years ago: in those days, there weren’t as many pages, but it was a somewhat safe atmosphere, with only a few known viruses as annoying and dangerous agents. However, with great, comes great responsibility. However, it outgrew even the wildest expectations, and it is now the single most prominent thing in our society. When it first came up, it was a nice bonus, an extra service that we used for specific purposes, like sending emails or maybe chatting. For decades, we lived a successful and happy life without the Internet. The evolution of the Internet and online security In this article, we will take a more in-depth look. However, the most security-savvy online “netizens” know that the implementation of free VPNs, like Hola, is not safe at all. A sizable community within the Internet thinks that they are useful just because their use involves no costs.