8 VPN Facts – You Should Know About

Published on: 29 June 2018 Last Updated on: 10 September 2024

With the increasing technology, the need to secure the data is also greater than ever. Users seek the best way to enhance their level of online privacy. There are several ways by which you can protect your data and online activities but using VPN services is the most reliable one.

But, do you know everything about the VPN services you are using? If not, we have collected some facts about what you should know if you are using their services or you still have to try the services.

VPN Providers Track and Store Your Data :

Although VPN providers promise never to monitor your data, they still track and keep most of your data. They know what you’re doing on the internet and whatnot. However, this information is not hidden by the users as it is mentioned under the provider’s terms and agreement.

There is a myth that they hand over your information to government authorities but this is false. They keep your data to determine if there are any glitches in the network and to improve the service later on.

VPC Doesn’t Make You Entirely Anonymous :

Yes, this, in fact, is true that you are not completely anonymous with VPN. Even though they guarantee to conceal your identity, it is not anonymous. Yes, it will prevent others from landing on your IP address, but you are not unidentified as they keep your information at the time you sign up for VPN. It could be your payment details, email address or IP address.

However, apart from this, you are totally safe with VPN as they don’t reveal your details to third parties.

VPN Assure You Online Privacy :

Even though your identity is not concealed with VPN, it ensures you full online privacy. VPN service can help in hiding your online activities from government agencies and cybercriminals. When you browse using VPN service, the traffic will go through an encrypted and private tunnel.

So, with a VPN, no one can know about your online activities.

VPN May Increase Your Internet Speed :

We all think that VPNs decrease our internet speed. But, it‘s not true. It sometimes also increases internet speed. This is because encrypted VPNs prevent the ISP from throttling websites. Which means it prevents ISP from separating the web traffic into high and low-speed tunnels forcing them to route the traffic as promised by advertised speed. If you want the best VPN for China, you can check it out here.

Many VPN Providers Don’t Have Their Own Network :

Many people think that VPN has to run their own servers to provide service. But, they don’t. Some companies rent servers and set up VPN servers to sell to customers. This lets them have more time to focus on main functions to help improve their services as the servers will be maintained by hosting companies.

However, this doesn’t affect your security or online privacy. So, you are well protected with a VPN.

You Can Access Blocked Content with VPN :

While browsing, we all have faced a situation where at times certain ISPs block users from accessing some websites. Even some sites and governments block the content.

However, with VPN there is no such problem. Not only there are no such restrictions with VPN and you are provided with the full content, and they will also let you download the blocked content easily.

Being Hacked Is Still a Possibility :

You can never save yourself from being hacked when the hackers are incredibly creative nowadays. However, VPN offers the utmost security that makes it almost impossible to hack. With VPN encryption, you are very safe. So, it would be suitable to use a VPN than not.

VPN Is Untraceable :

A VPN and a firewall are similar except you can’t trace a VPN. It uses tunnel encryption to protect your information that travels between servers and make it harder for things like a virus to reach your computer. VPN will protect your network by being untraceable while firewall will protect through sifting.

On Ending Note :

VPNs are a great tool to enhance your online security. So, VPN is a must-have tool in today’s world if you want to keep yourself safe online. But, you need to know all about VPNs first to decide which one is the best for you as there are different types.

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5 Core Pillars Of Cloud FinOps

The current dynamic business environment requires companies to take a structured, proactive approach to manage, monitoring and predicting their cloud service costs. Doing so will help them to meet their financial goals. Cloud FinOps is a cultural shift and operational framework that brings finance, business, and technology together to accelerate business value realization and drive financial accountability through the cloud. At its heart, cloud FinOps enables businesses to understand the challenges and complexities of cloud information technology (IT) financial management. The core purpose of cloud FinOps is to optimize the business value generated from cloud services. It involves various techniques, like free credits, least-priced services, negotiating costs, and more. 5 Core Pillars of Cloud FinOps You need to know the core principles of the cloud FinOps design to successfully implement it. These design principles help build a cost-conscious, self-governing culture while fostering business agility and financial accountability in the cloud. The following are some key pillars of Cloud FinOps: 1. Enablement and Accountability This principle focuses on creating lean or centralized cross-functional teams. These teams may include application owners, architecture, operations, finance, and engineering. Establishing these teams enhances governance and sets guidelines for managing cloud expenditure. 2. Cost Optimization This principle requires stakeholders to identify the main cost-optimization drivers in the cloud environment. It is a continuous, iterative process that offers a consistent solution to managing cloud usage most cost-effectively. The following are the three common optimization areas: Architecture Pricing Resource 3. Realization and Measurement This principle involves creating core key performance indicators (KPIs), and business-value metrics will be utilized to evaluate the success of the transformation. In most cases, customers begin with a series of cost-optimization metrics. Afterward, business value or unit economics measurements, like cost per customer served or transaction. 4. Forecasting and Planning Proper cloud estimates and planning require the company to fully understand its cost drivers, assign cloud expenditure, and benchmark efficiency. Doing so ensures minimal deviations between the actual and forecasted costs. 5. Accelerators and Tools As you would expect, cloud FinOps requires you to employ proper accelerators and relevant tools. Doing so ensures effective monitoring and management of cloud spending. These tools may include: Automation scripts that set budget alerts and account guardrails Reporting dashboard for tracking value and managing cloud spend Cost management tools for analyzing real-time cost and billing data. How Do Cloud FinOps Work? This operational framework involves a three-step lifecycle to ensure teams remain focused on and organized to deliver business value and attain financial accountability. These steps include: Informing Optimizing Operation 1. Informing This stage involves informing the company about all cloud-related costs. It happens by providing 100% visibility and assigning cloud costs to relevant business units. Here, the goal is to let every team understand their cloud spending. Also, it involves benchmarking against the company’s internal objectives, like budgets and forecasts. Companies can visualize areas they’re attaining business value and where they do not, helping them determine their progress. 2. Optimizing Once members know the organization’s goals, costs, and achieved business value, they proceed to optimize costs. This step involves providing recommendations and actionable insights to the different teams. Here, companies cut off unnecessary services that increase their cloud spending. Also, they automate rightsizing of different resources and maximize the utilization of the available resources. As a result, it significantly reduces cloud expenditure. 3. Operation Once all costs are optimized, it’s time to architect the cloud environment to achieve and maintain minimal cloud spending. The company creates governance policies that help attain technological, business, and financial goals. The primary objective here is to achieve measurable goals and continual improvement. 4 Benefits Of Cloud FinOps: Adopting cloud FinOps best processes and practices helps enterprises achieve various high-level benefits, such as: 1. Cost Efficiency Cloud FinOps enable you to attain cost efficiency thanks to advanced tools and accelerators. These tools help you identify areas of optimization, track and optimize cloud spending, and hold every team responsible, reducing unnecessary cloud costs. 2. Positive Cultural Shift By holding every cloud consumer responsible and making their data on cloud usage and spending available, cloud FinOps helps optimize cloud consumption. As a result, it helps create a beneficial culture for all cloud-consuming parties. 3. Reduces Uninformed Decisions Uninformed decisions can be extremely costly. Without proper tracking of cloud spending and resources, your company may be spending significant resources on the cloud. Fortunately, cloud FinOps products provide real-time granular reports and insights, helping leaders to: Get service-level cloud utilization Track underutilized or idle resources Compare the business cloud resource usage by time Figure out business areas that need more resources. With such data, leaders are aware of which areas need what resources. Also, they are informed about their decisions’ financial implications. 4. Unifies the Company’s Ecosystem Every company often has a frustrating, complex, and invisible culture split between finance, IT, and DevOps teams. Requests, approvals, and processes vary from department to department, though they aim to achieve a common goal. Also, technical terms and jargon may not be understood by other teams. What’s more, the finance team often loses control of cloud infrastructure procurement when the cloud engineering team steps into the process. How does Cloud FinOps help in this case? Well, cloud FinOps help every team stay updated about their cloud costs depending upon their responsibilities. For instance, while the finance team views the cost reports and data, the engineering team can access the processor usage information. As a result, it leads to streamlined, effective, and unified operations. Challenges Of FinOps Although cloud FinOps is a great approach, it has its shortcomings. Many teams end up experiencing barriers to attaining business value. Some key challenges include: Difficulty understanding cloud costs One cannot trade off creativity and innovation for low cloud costs The DevOps teams may not exhaustively understand the financial processes Final Thoughts The cloud FinOps framework can significantly transform your company in all aspects. This operational framework enables you to optimize your company’s financial wellness while driving business value. However, to achieve the best results, you need to adopt the best practices and understand the principles and dynamics of this approach. Read Also: Top cloud security controls you should be using Hosted Mail Service That Runs on the Cloud Oracle & The Cloud: A Dream Team

Advancing Search and Rescue Missions with Aerial Innovations

The realm of search and rescue missions is witnessing unprecedented advancements thanks to aerial innovations. These technologies, like drones for search & rescue, are redefining the capabilities of emergency response teams, enabling them to conduct operations more effectively and safely than ever before. This article explores how these aerial innovations are transforming the search and rescue domain, enhancing missions' efficiency, speed, and success rates across challenging environments. Enhancing Real-Time Situational Awareness Aerial innovations have improved real-time situational awareness during search and rescue operations. Drones with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging can cover expansive areas quickly, providing live feeds to the command center. This immediate access to visual information allows rescue teams to assess situations accurately and make informed decisions swiftly. The ability to survey disaster-stricken or hard-to-reach areas from the air has significantly reduced the time it takes to locate victims, evaluate risks, and strategize interventions, ultimately saving lives and optimizing resource deployment. Utilizing AI and machine learning (ML) algorithms enhances the analysis of the data collected, helping in the identification of patterns and anomalies that human operators might miss, further increasing the effectiveness of search and rescue missions. Precision In Search Operations The precision offered by aerial technologies in search operations is unparalleled. Drones, for instance, can navigate through narrow spaces and harsh terrains, areas where human teams or traditional machinery might struggle or face risks. Equipped with advanced sensors, these aerial devices can detect heat signatures or movement, aiding in identifying survivors in dense forests, collapsed structures, or avalanche sites. This precision not only enhances the chances of finding and rescuing individuals but also minimizes the exposure of rescue personnel to potential dangers. Drones can drastically improve the outcomes of search operations by pinpointing the exact locations of victims, reducing the time required for rescue, and significantly lowering the risk of further casualties. Rapid Deployment And Scalability Aerial innovations enable rapid deployment and scalability in search and rescue missions. Unlike crewed aircraft or ground teams, drones can be launched quickly and in multiple numbers, allowing for simultaneous coverage of vast areas. This scalability is crucial in the critical first hours following an emergency when the likelihood of saving lives is highest. The ability to deploy numerous drones at once or in response to evolving situations ensures that search and rescue operations can adapt dynamically to the demands of the mission, covering more ground in less time. The agility and adaptability of drones make them an indispensable asset in the arsenal of search and rescue teams, enabling a more responsive and wide-reaching approach to emergencies. Cost-Effectiveness And Resource Efficiency Adopting aerial innovations in search and rescue missions introduces cost-effectiveness and resource efficiency. Operating drones or crewless aerial vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance and search efforts is significantly cheaper than deploying helicopters or large teams of ground personnel. The reduced need for expensive crewed aircraft and the ability to conduct thorough searches with fewer resources means that emergency response units can allocate their budgets more effectively, enhancing their overall capacity to respond to disasters without compromising the quality of search and rescue efforts. This economic advantage allows for more frequent and extensive training exercises, ensuring teams are well-prepared, and resources are readily available when real-life situations arise. Improving Safety For Rescue Teams One of the paramount benefits of aerial innovations is the improved safety they offer to rescue teams. By utilizing drones and other aerial technologies, rescuers can conduct preliminary assessments of unstable structures, flood zones, or wildfire-affected areas without directly exposing themselves to these hazardous conditions. This precautionary measure ensures that rescue operations are conducted with a clear understanding of the risks involved, allowing teams to approach situations with the necessary caution and planning. Moreover, by taking on tasks that would otherwise put human lives in danger, drones significantly reduce the risk of injury or fatality among rescue personnel. The deployment of drones in the initial stages of a mission can help determine the best course of action. In doing so, it ensures that when human responders enter the scene, they do so with maximum preparation and minimum risk. Which Drones Are The Best For Search And Rescue? When it comes to search and rescue, aerial surveillance can be done well with the right kind of drones. Just getting any type of drone doesn't help. Rescue missions are operated better with drones equipped with thermal cameras. If thermal cameras are the best, you needed For identifying and searching for a missing person, thermal drones use heat signatures for thermal imaging of an individual. The human body is a source of heat. The thermal imaging technology equipped with the drone cameras detects the heat signatures that the naked eye cannot. The best drones have infrared sensors, making those temperatures visible through the remote screen. It takes quick surveillance to find missing individuals during a disaster like a fire or plane crash. Drones can easily track and find a missing person thanks to the heat signature detection features. Especially during the early morning and at night, the infrared sensor of a drone is useful. The temperature of any human being or animal will be more than rocks, vegetation, and water. So, it helps detect a missing person. Thermal drones cannot see through objects. But, it makes it easy to detect a missing person when their heat signature is visible. A Technical Perspective on How Drones are Used for Search & Rescue 1. Easy Detection A search and rescue mission can involve various types of scenarios and difficult situations. If, for instance, when a rescue party is looking for someone stuck on one side of a cliff, the drone helps a lot. It gives the users a global perspective with real-time monitoring. The person handling the drone can see the movement and the position of the person they are trying to rescue. 2. Aerial Drones are Easy to Carry Also, teams that have to hike to a specific height are at an advantage, with the drone making the ways and navigation easier for them. Hiking parties can carry the drone in their backpacks or small cases. This makes these drones portable and easy to carry. It doesn't feel like an excessive burden. 3. Easy Detection And Remote Controlling According to the technical grid perspective, the process is mostly about collecting drone footage. It can also be used to employ the acquired data effectively. After the drones are deployed, the users can utilize the remote control to make it fly back and forth. This facilitates a comprehensive coverage of the landscape. This way, no necessary information is missed, and the rescue operation is carried out properly. 4. Streaming Rescue Footage Technically, the rescue team member is supposed to stay in a vehicle close by. They use HDMI and project the drone's visuals to another large screen for the cloud. This way, the rescue team can livestream the rescue mission, telecast it, or send it to a command center for observation. The command center and the rescue team can make decisions based on the live streams. Conclusion The advancement of aerial innovations, as exemplified by technologies like drones for search & rescue, is revolutionizing the emergency response field. These technologies improve the practicality and effectiveness of search and rescue missions and redefine the approach toward saving lives in critical situations. With the ability to offer real-time situational awareness, precision in search operations, rapid deployment, cost-effectiveness, and improved safety for rescue teams, aerial innovations are setting new standards in the rescue domain. As these technologies evolve and integrate with search and rescue operations, the future promises even more successful missions, ensuring that the response is swift, strategic, and safe when disaster strikes. Read More: How Pests Control Maintains The Aesthetic Appeal Of Your Home The Impact Of Automation On Payroll And Compliance 6 Law Fields With High Demand In 2024

Add Accuracy To Your Testing With The Help Of Multimeter

A multimeter is also known as a multi-tester. This small device helps you to find the accurate measurement of voltage, current, resistance, and power. With the help of an analog multimeter, you can troubleshoot the electrical problems with accuracy with the help of pointer on a scale. You can also use this multimeter in technical industries as well as in domestic appliances. You can use this multimeter for testing heavy motors, machines, wiring systems, and power supply and in home appliances like television, refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioner etc. Hence, it is a very useful device for both domestic and professional use. How do needle based multimeters work? The main work of needle based multimeter is to pass the current through a coil which is suspendedbetween two permanent magnets. After choosing the voltage scale, when the voltage is applied, a resistor of known value is placed in series with a measurement lead. This multimeter is a very sensitive piece of electrical testing device. It is common not only in home appliance installations but isalso very useful in servicing and repairs. Sometimes, when there is fluctuation in power supply this needle based multimeter gives you an accurate reading, which is not possible in the digital meter. Advantages of using the needle based multimeter: As you know that multimeters are of two types, analog and digital, the former one is very low in cost and available at every hardware store. You can get an accurate measurement by an analog meter, and you don’t even need a battery to operate it unless you have to measure the resistance. But in digital meters, you need a battery to operate it. While an analog meter needs DC power to measure resistance, it forces the current to flow in the capacitor and when it is stabilized, you will get the reading of the faulty wiring. How to check the voltage by an analog meter? If you want to check the voltage with the help of a needle based multimeter, you have to just follow a few tips. Thenumberto which the needle moves from 0 is known as “deflection “and full scale deflection is that goes till the end of the scale, anything beyond the scale is not measurable. In other words, this process is also known as full scale deflection. Users mostly drop the deflection part because it is rarely relevant anymore. Current measurement by an analog meter: Both AC and DC current can be checked with the help of needle-based multimeter by connecting the series in the meter in the circuit. For AC current measurement, an analog meter consists of diode rectifier that converts AC to corresponding DC current. Before measuring the current, one should consider the following: Insert the red and the black leads in their respective slot depending on very high or very low current measurements. Set range selector switch to DC current, and also select the expected range. Multimeter users can also ensure maximum range for measurements. They can also reduce the range if needed. Read Also: How To Get Started With Arduino Uno R3 Demystifying The Common GDPR Myths

8 VPN Facts – You Should Know About

VPN Providers Track and Store Your Data :