Among the many conveniences that technological advancement has brought, the advent of online banking is one that we can all agree has saved us a lot of time and effort. People are now able to move money around and make transactions at the touch of a button, whereas otherwise they would have to go from point A to point B and stand in a queue that would take up a large part of their day. What many people don’t know is that you can use a virtual private network (VPN) to make all your online transactions more secure. With that in mind, we review the best VPNs for online banking.
SurfsharkVPN
A VPN like Surfshark is an effective way to increase the security of your online banking session itself. After all, precautions like 256-AES GCM encryption, zero-logging policies, and advanced tunnels with OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPSec, and WireGuard ensure fast and secure connections to VPN servers around the world.
However, hackers, governments, advertisers and other malicious actors have developed ways to monitor VPN traffic. This is where Surfshark’s newer features come into play. Most importantly, each of their 800+ servers has the ability to enable stealth, which is like a VPN-to-VPN. This makes your heavily encrypted banking traffic look like normal, uninteresting traffic to outsiders.
In addition, Surfshark has a whitelist that allows you to specify which apps are encrypted and which are not (this is especially useful for some banking apps that don’t fit into certain VPN settings). You can even enable separate protection for each Wi-Fi network – especially useful for commuters and digital nomads.
PrivateInternetAccessVPN
Private Internet Access has a huge network – 35,550 servers in 77 countries. With so many options, you can easily avoid account suspensions due to suspicious logins from abroad. It also passed all my leak tests, meaning my real location was never revealed to my bank.
MACE’s software blocks dangerous websites and prevents you from accidentally visiting fraudulent banking sites or clicking on links that download spyware to your device. In my testing, I noticed that you should remember to enable MACE, but you can easily do that in the app’s settings.
Exploring the settings, I was surprised to see that Private Internet Access uses the slightly less secure AES-128 encryption as its default encryption method. AES-128 is faster, but I always choose 256-bit encryption for online banking for maximum security. Fortunately, it’s very easy to change the encryption level in the settings.
Even more disappointing, Private Internet Access doesn’t allow you to connect automatically when you’re not on a secure network. My settings allow automatic connection when I first turn on my device, but not only when I connect to a public WiFi.
The good news is that I found out you can save money with the latest coupon and subscribe to private internet access for only $2.69/month.
IPVanishVPN
We can recommend for online banking is IP Vanish. This is another fantastic virtual private internet service with a 256-bit AES encryption level and compatibility with all popular protocols, including OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP/IPsec.
Another important feature of a good online banking VPN is the speed of the program. IPVanish is quite fast, so online transactions can be completed within minutes. With over 40,000 shared IP addresses and 500 servers in over 60 countries, you can be sure that you are in good hands.
You can also connect up to 2 different devices at the same time, and the app is quite easy to use. This is a good thing for first-time VPN users. It supports Bitcoin as a login method, which gives you better online anonymity.
VyprVPN
Vypr VPN is another great option for online banking. The company doesn’t use a third party as they have their own servers so they don’t leak. When it comes to security protocols, you have a choice between OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, and Chameleon, the latter of which adds an extra layer of encryption that improves overall security. There’s also a NAT firewall that you’ll find useful.
Their network includes over 700 servers in over 50 locations and over 200,000 global IP addresses. Up to 5 simultaneous connections are allowed, which helps maintain anonymity and privacy on all your devices.
4 Reasons why you should use a VPN for online banking
There are many risks you face when banking online – but a quality VPN will protect you from those risks. Use a top-notch banking VPN.
- To prevent hackers from stealing your credentials: Cybercriminals often use phishing scams and spyware to get your credentials. Some even create fake banking websites to trick you into sending them your account details.
- Protect your mobile banking apps: Some apps can be compromised by encryption vulnerabilities or malware (especially on Android and Windows phones!) .
- Secure your banking over unsecured WiFi: Cybercriminals can infiltrate public WiFi networks and steal your banking information. They can also defraud your account by installing spyware on your device!
- Bypass your bank’s geographical restrictions: If your bank finds out that someone is trying to log in from a foreign IP address, they can send a fraud alert and block access to your account.
To protect you, VPN software encrypts your data and masks your IP address. This prevents cybercriminals from intercepting your login credentials and keeps your banking secure no matter what network you are connected to. Also, by hiding your actual location, you can bypass your bank’s geo-blocking, allowing you to access your accounts from anywhere.
Bottom Line
If you’re wondering, “should I use a VPN for online banking,” the answer is really up to you. VPNs can help provide extra security when you’re online, but they’re not perfect and most charge a monthly fee. Many people have no problem using online banking without a VPN, but if an extra layer of protection gives you peace of mind, these VPN providers are a good place to start.
AWSM TIPS
Puffin Browser is a web browser developed by CloudMosa, an American mobile technology company founded by Shioupyn Shen. The Puffin Browser was originally released in 2010. It uses encrypted cloud servers to process content. Check out Best VPN for Puffin browser to search safe and secure without trace your activities.
