In the light of recent corporate data privacy breaches and the overwhelming rising rate of cyber-crime in America, millions of citizens are left wondering how to protect their personal data online and how to maintain their privacy while using the internet.

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this question; however, for those individuals seeking a cost-effective solution that also packs a significant security punch, virtual private networks (also referred to as VPNs) might be an appropriate choice to consider.

In order to understand what VPNs are and how they protect people’s privacy, it is important to first understand the basics of how the internet works.

When a user enters a website domain name into the address bar of their web browser, they are ultimately requesting information from that website’s servers. This initial request establishes a line of communication between the user’s machine and the remote website server, and for every click of the mouse additional transmissions of information occur between the two devices. These transmissions can contain vast amounts of private metadata even if it does not seem this way on the surface.

Hackers, government agencies, and computer-savvy people have the ability to “sniff” these network transmissions with ease, and can pick out bits of information that are considered valuable such as usernames, passwords, ID numbers, account numbers and street addresses. Even something as simple as a computer’s IP address, which is the device’s logical location marker, could be used by an outsider to cause harm.

For these reasons, it is critical to protect as much personal data as possible when browsing the internet; especially when using insecure networks or public Wi-Fi.

This is where VPNs come into play. Simply put, virtual private networks are a technological means to create a private connection between two or more devices over a public wired or wireless network. VPNs implement a form of transmission encryption and often include a mechanism to support IP Address randomization/masking.

This technology not only scrambles the content of the transmission itself but also hides the location of origin from hackers that might be snooping the traffic. This solution provides a multi-tiered approach to enhance a user’s security online. VPNs are not flawless, but they do provide a reasonable assurance of privacy for the end users and are a perfect solution for most cases.

Large corporations and companies were the early adopters of VPNS, and implemented them for employees who worked in the field and required access to the organization’s main systems, but did not have a means to physically connect their devices to the enterprise network. Since VPNs provide a secure encrypted channel to send transmissions back and forth over the internet, they were widely used throughout all industries within corporate America.

Within the past decade or so, the technology surrounding VPNs has become simpler to implement, faster to use, and more cost effective to produce which has driven an increase in VPN usage among individual users outside of the enterprise domain, and the technology is now widely available for use in the commercial market.

As with most technological solutions available to the general public, the success of VPNs is often defined by their implementation, general usage, available providers, and, most important, their cost. Free VPNs are available and might seem appetizing to some users, but it is important to note that free VPNs often run with limited capabilities. Additionally, free VPN providers will in some cases maintain “usage logs” which identify and track end user data, in turn negating the intended purpose of the VPN.

This is not to say that free VPNs are not sufficient for some purposes, but the validity and applicability of a free VPN would depend entirely on the end user, their motivations, and their unique circumstances. Paid VPNs are usually very cost effective, and offer better security, support and available features over free VPNs, so the fees are worth every penny.

One common misconception surrounding VPNs is that they are complex and difficult to use. This is simply not true. The platform on which VPNs are built might be complex; however modern VPN applications are just like any other program on a smartphone, workstation, laptop or tablet. They are very easy to install, configure and maintain, and require almost no technical experience to use.

In summation, VPNs offer an easy-to-use, multi-faceted security approach that is paramount in protecting sensitive data online, and they are highly recommended for anyone who regularly accesses or transmits bank information, medical records or other personally identifiable information over the internet.

This being said, it is important for consumers to do their research and understand the full capabilities of different VPN options before making a decision on which solution to implement in their home or remote computing environment.

William Spettmann of Ledyard is a cybersecurity specialist at Electric Boat.