Things to consider if you are using a VPN

There has been a considerable uptake in VPN usage, ever since the online safety bill was brought into force.

A lot of websites started to require UK residents to verify their age before being able to access content, and the thing is, it is not just adult entertainment sites, it has also meant sites that hold content that should not be viewed by children, such as some news stories, or websites that have information about weaponry.

This new barrier to access sites meant a lot of people sought improvisation, including pretending not to be located in the UK through the use of a VPN that terminates in a different country, making the user appear to be browsing from that country, so the UK laws do not applying to them when connecting to the site.

A lot of people also do not like the idea of being tracked when visiting a website if they are from the UK, when users from other countries are not tracked, which is why there has been such a huge uptake in VPN usage.

But, one of the downsides of using a VPN, to appear as though you are from a different country, means that you can inadvertently be locked out of your work account.  This is because a lot of organisations use geolocation checks to make sure no one can hack their services from overseas, because, as far as your work is concerned, you are in the UK.  If someone appears to be logging into your work systems from the USA with your account, then it could automatically lock you out.

The same can be found with websites for your bank or financial services, as they too will use login pattern recognition to check where you are logging in from.

So, if you are using a VPN to bypass these online challenges, just be warned that could find yourself getting locked out of sites you were not expecting, and you then have to go through the tedious process of regaining access.