Amidst data-hungry companies and bad actors creating malware to snoop on your personal information, it has become crucial to protect your digital privacy at all costs. If you are using public WiFi, your browsing history could be visible to everyone around.
This is even riskier when you are accessing banking websites for transactions. There are multiple means to ensure that your personal information is not compromised when you are conducting banking transactions.
VPN is, however, one of the most effective means to browse the internet anonymously without allowing anyone to snoop on you. There are several reasons why you must use a virtual private network for banking and other surfing involving sensitive information. You can bypass internet monitoring by using a VPN thus slashing the chances of your personal identification information being intercepted.
If you are not convinced, here are some reasons to use a VPN for online transactions.
Reasons to use VPN for Banking
- Safeguard your information: While doing online transactions, there are chances that your personal information could be intercepted and snooped upon. Using a VPN provides you a layer of encryption to safeguard your sensitive data.
- The extra layer of protection for banking apps: These days most people prefer doing online transactions using mobile banking apps. When you use a VPN, it offers an additional layer of protection to these apps. Most apps use encryption as a means to secure sensitive information but a VPN further ensures that no information leaving your device is trackable.
- Use public Wi-Fi When Accessing banking websites: It is always recommended that we should not use public Wi-Fi for accessing banking websites and apps. However, there can be situations where you are left with no option other than using public Wi-Fi for transactions. In such situations, a VPN could prove really useful in encrypting your personal information to avoid any phishing attempts and man-in-the-middle attacks.
- Accessing banking websites while traveling: Most banking websites and apps monitor your IP address and pose issues when you are accessing them outside your native country. This could be a problem for those who travel frequently and conduct transactions on the go. You can use a VPN having a server in your native country to access banking websites while traveling.
- Additional benefits of VPNs: Not only VPNs provide you additional protection by encrypting your data and help you surf anonymously, but some VPNs also offer additional features such as protection against phishing, ad blocker, kill switch that could be useful for online transactions.
Best VPNs For Online Transactions
Now that you know why VPNs are useful in online transactions, here is the list of five best VPNs for banking.
1. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is one of the most popular VPNs out there. It is known for its strict no-logging policy, a large number of servers in different countries of the world and easy to use apps for different platforms. Express VPN has over 3000 servers located in more than 94 countries all over the globe.
With its tonnes of security features such as IP address masking, AES-256 advanced encryption, VPN split tunneling, zero-knowledge DNS, network lock kill switch and public wi-fi safety, Express VPN is an ideal choice if you are planning to purchase a VPN especially for online transactions.
The VPN provider also offers 24 by 7 customer support via email and live chat so you can contact them and get your queries solved if you are stuck somewhere.
Using Express VPN for banking ensures that your data is not being snooped upon and your sensitive information is in safe hands. Also, Express VPN deploys advanced technology dubbed TrustedServer technology which ensures that no data is stored on your device’s internal storage thus keeping your information safe and secure.
2. NordVPN
NordVPN is another great VPN if you want one for banking and online transactions. Out of all the popular VPN providers, NordVPN has the largest number of servers available in different countries.
At the time of writing, the VPN provider has 5720 servers located in 60 countries around the globe. A large number of servers is a boon for those who frequently travel and require unblocking websites banned in a region. NordVPN also offers a host of security features to users.
Some of the worth mentioning security features of NordVPN are dedicated IP servers for privacy enthusiasts, Double VPN servers for enhanced security, obfuscated servers for accessing the blocked sites from an area where internet censorship exists, onion over VPN servers and DNS leak protection.
Another reason why you must choose Nord VPN for banking and online transactions is their strict no data log policy and military-grade encryption which helps you in conducting online transactions without worrying about your bank details.
3. Surfshark VPN
Surfshark VPN is one of the best choices for VPN for banking. It comes packed with a multitude of security features to safeguard your banking details and other sensitive data when you are conducting an online transaction.
Surfshark VPN has more than 800 servers in over 50 countries across the globe and is audited by Cure53 which is an independent agency that conducts penetration tests for websites. As we mentioned above that one of the reasons why you must use a VPN for online transactions is the set of additional features you get, Surfshark VPN justifies the reason.
The VPN provider offers additional security features such as CleanWeb which allows you to surf the internet without any ads, trackers and also blocks potential phishing attempts to keep your transactions secure, Whitelister feature for bypassing VPN for certain apps, Multihop servers for protection against footprint masking and ID protection.
Surfshark VPN’s strict no-log policy is another big reason why you must prefer the VPN for online banking. Also, this is a cheap VPN as compared to other VPNs in this list as you can get a 24 months plan for $1.99 per month only.
4. Cyberghost VPN
Cyberghost VPN is quite popular amongst cord-cutters as it unblocks plenty of streaming services in a hassle-free manner. But, the security features of the VPN is the reason why we have included it in this list of best VPNs for online transactions.
CyberGhost VPN has 15 years in the industry and boasts over 4800 servers in 58+ countries. The notable security features of CyberGhost VPN are highest grade encryption for establishing a connection and transferring data in a secured manner, Wi-Fi protection for public Wi-Fi so that your data including credit card details and other information is not compromised by a hacker and apps across different platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
CyberGhost VPN ensures that your personal identification data such as your IP address, connection timestamps and the websites you visit are not recorded. CyberGhost VPN is the recommended VPN for banking and doing online transactions involving your sensitive data.
5. IPVanish VPN
IPVanish is another popular name in the VPN industry. This VPN service provider has over 1300 servers across the globe for helping you surf the internet anonymously. IPVanish VPN deploys 256-bit AES encryption which is considered as the military-grade encryption for keeping your connection secure.
The reason why we consider IPVanish an ideal candidate for banking is its zero traffic log policy and the feature to connect up to 10 devices simultaneously.
The VPN also claims to be the world’s fastest VPN which could be another reason why you must use it before doing an online transaction of establishing a connection to a banking website or app.
Should You Use VPN for Banking and Online Transactions?
VPN is one of the most effective tools when it comes to protecting your confidential information like credit card details, bank account number, banking app PIN amongst other information that could allow anyone to sweep your bank account.
However, before choosing a VPN for banking and online transactions, make sure that you are selecting a VPN which offers additional security features, deploys highest grade encryption and does not have any past record of data leakage. At the same time, you must make sure that the VPN you are choosing has one or more than one servers in your native country.
This is important for frequent travelers as accessing banking websites and apps from other countries are troublesome. For example, if you are accessing a banking website from China, you might face some red flags. Additionally, the VPN must also be economical. We hope that you can find the best VPN for banking from our provided list of VPNs.