This app is a perfect weapon for fighting your own online privacy war
The internet can be a dangerous place for those without any cybersecurity. But you know that already.
One way to stay safe online is by investing in a VPN – a basic security solution that masks your online activity from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), hackers, and snoops alike. This is really the base level of security that everybody should already be employing while surfing the web.
Another solution is something like Disconnect, an all-in-one premium tracker blocker and VPN that has been recognized by The New York Times and the SXSW Interactive Conference as one of the best privacy and security tools on the market. A three-year subscription to this service is currently on sale in the Mashable Shop for $29. Here’s why some people swear by it:
1. It improves your browser speed
Typically, VPNs will slow your browsing due to some combination of CPU-eating encryption, routing through servers that are very far away, or your ISP throttling the connection. Disconnect helps to increase browsing speed due to its integrated tracker blocking and malware detection. By preventing the trackers that websites, hackers, and snoops leave all over the web, Disconnect has been shown to improve browsing speed by up to 44% while using up to 39% less bandwidth.
2. It secures your data
Combined with an encrypted WiFi connection, Disconnect protects your sensitive online activity from wireless eavesdroppers, as well as the companies, cybercriminals, and government entities that routinely attempt to track your info online. Even more importantly, it protects you from Disconnect. Their privacy policy prohibits collection of IP addresses or any other personal info unless you volunteer it for whatever reason. That's a big plus in the VPN game, as some lower cost or free VPNs do in fact keep logs of your activity.
3. It cloaks your identity
How is anybody going to know who you are if they just can't piggyback on your connection? Disconnect lets you conduct searches completely privately while masking your IP address and location so while you may actually be Jeanine in Oshkosh, you may as well be Bjorn in Amsterdam to everybody else on the worldwide web.
Itching to check it out? A lifetime subscription to Disconnect Premium is currently 80 percent off the list price at just $29.
Topics Cybersecurity Privacy
As Director of Special Projects, Nicole Cammorata helps guide Mashable's editorial innovations, licensing programs, and specialty series. Previously, she was the site's Executive Editor and its very first Shopping Editor before that. Nicole is also Mashable's resident gifting expert and gets a thrill out of helping readers find the perfect present. She received a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an MFA in fiction writing from The New School. She lives in Maine with her husband, their three young children, and a backyard full of flowers.
