Help, I got hacked!

I never really thought about using a VPN seriously before. Honestly, I used to kind of laugh at people who seemed a bit too worried about privacy. But then, around four years ago, my Gmail account got hacked out of nowhere. Google warned me about a sign-in attempt from the Philippines, and that is a place I’ve never even been to.

I got back into my account pretty fast, so luckily the damage was not too bad. The hacker sent some spam emails and looked around my Google Drive, but I didn’t keep anything very sensitive there, just some calculation sheets that probably were not useful to anybody anyway. I changed my password right away, followed Google’s security tips, and just moved on.
But after that I started thinking, maybe my data had been exposed when I used public Wi‑Fi at shopping malls with my laptop.

That is when I became a pretty loyal NordVPN (advertisement link) customer. Now I use a VPN whenever I leave the house or use my devices, my iPhone, iPad, and Mac too. It has been useful at home, while traveling, and even when I use banking apps, because it gives me a little more peace of mind that my data is protected. It also works with my small travel router, and it supports Linux, Windows, and pretty much any system you may have.

So why did I choose Nord VPN when there are so many VPNs out there?

I did a lot of Google searching and read many customer reviews before I decided. The main reasons were that they have been around for over 12 years and they have a strict no-log policy, so they don’t store logs on their servers. That means, in theory, no government agency, legal entity, or hacker can just access your data. Your information is encrypted while it goes through a secure tunnel to NordVPN (advertisement link)’s servers and then to the final destination. Your ISP, mobile provider, and public Wi‑Fi networks can’t really see what you are doing — they only see encrypted data.

Another thing I like is that I can switch geography when needed, which lets me keep watching my home Netflix selection while I am traveling. Their servers are also very fast, and I do not really notice slowdown when browsing, which is a big plus, because many people with other VPNs complain theirs is slow. NordVPN (advertisement link) has not been like that for me.

Of course, there are many VPN providers out there, and I would not trust free ones. Security is one of those things where I think it is better to choose a company with a solid track record. I first paid for a standalone VPN plan, but now it is included with my Revolut Metal account. So yes, I’ve been a happy customer for years, more or less. They also have add-ons like NordLocker and NordPass, although I have not tried those yet because I already use a password manager I trust and I have enough iCloud storage for now.

If you want to explore them yourself, please visit NordVPN (advertisement link) and check out their pricing plans.