As a web designer, you probably do most of your work online. You test your designs on a web design platform and update various websites on a regular basis. You also communicate with clients online and use the internet to research your competitors and stay up to date with the latest design trends.

However, being connected to the internet brings a set of potential issues that might compromise your work and communications with clients. In some cases, especially when dealing with financial transactions, it is essential to protect your connection from being tampered. A VPN is necessary for every netizen, and web designers can benefit from such tools as well. Here are the top reasons why you should utilize a VPN.

Preventing Data Breaches

No one wants their personal and sensitive data getting into the hands of hackers. However, lots of people still don’t take cyber threats too seriously. As a result, they end up with major data leaks with the potential to ruin their business. If you start using a VPN, you can successfully prevent data breaches. That’s because a VPN will hide your entire online activity and mask your IP address, making you anonymous online. When no one can see you online, they can’t target you.

Also, many VPNs come with a kill switch, which is a safety mechanism. It automatically disconnects you from the internet if your VPN connection drops. Until the safe connection is back, you’re offline to avoid a data breach.

Safeguarding Intellectual Property

Your web designs are an intellectual property that you certainly wouldn’t want anyone to steal. It’s safe to say you have tons of custom designs in your computer, and many other valuable resources. And what if you were working on a major web design project? Someone, perhaps a competitor, may try and steal your assets to use them as their own. Such theft can definitely hurt your business and prevent you from profiting from your passion.

In any case, getting a VPN is the smartest move for protecting your intellectual property. Even if a hacker somehow manages to compromise your connection, all of your data will be encrypted. So, the data will be of no use to the malicious hacker since they probably won’t spend their resources and time on decryption

Keeping Client Data Secure

Just like it’s crucial to protect your designs and other assets, it’s also vital to keep your client data secure. Whether it’s their personal information, bank accounts, or any other sensitive data, you must keep it safe. Otherwise, you could severely hurt your reputation and the reliability of your business. With a reliable VPN, you don’t have to worry about such problems. Staying anonymous online, with an encrypted internet connection, will keep client data perfectly safe.

Bypassing Geo-Restrictions

As you may already know, many countries use geo-blocking technology to restrict or block internet access from certain countries. Why is this relevant for web designers? Because it limits your possibilities when you want to research worldwide design trends. You might want to research a client’s competition, but geo-restrictions could prevent you from doing it. If you are going to watch various tutorials, some might be unavailable in your country. When traveling, you may not be able to access your files remotely because of geo-blocking.

You can forget about all these issues if you get a good VPN. You’ll be able to choose a VPN server to connect to. As a result, you’ll virtually move to a different geographical location. The VPN will assign you an IP address of that server, successfully bypassing geo-restrictions.

Securing Public Wi-Fi Connections

You probably do all your design work at home or in an office, but what about while traveling? Perhaps you’re a freelancer? When away from home or office, do you rely on public Wi-Fi? Hopefully, you know better than to use public Wi-Fi when working remotely. Public Wi-Fi connections don’t use encryption to protect your data. It’s incredibly easy for vicious hackers to intercept data transmissions over such connections.

It’s tempting to use them at airports, in hotels, in cafés or restaurants, but you really shouldn’t. And using your ISP’s roaming service can get quite expensive. Getting a reliable VPN is your best bet. It encrypts public Wi-Fi connections, so your data will be safe at all times. Just make sure you install it on every device you’re using. Different providers allow a different number of simultaneous devices, so be sure to check in advance.

As you can see, it’s wise to have a good VPN to protect your designs and sensitive data. If you want to avoid the majority of privacy risks, get a VPN tool as soon as possible. When choosing a provider, make sure they have a no-logs policy and provide fast internet speeds. They should also have a broad server network, high-grade security, and technical support around the clock.