VPN Usage in Iran Jumped 700% Over the Past Few Days

Ever since Israel began lobbing munitions at Iran, Iranians have been clamoring for information. Well, the Iranian authorities are reported to have begun blocking access to certain websites, leading to a sudden and massive increase in the number of Iranians downloading VPNs to evade the blocks.

From June 13 to June 16, VPN usage surged 707%, as reported by Top10VPNs on June 17. Top10VPNs is a VPN reviewing site that also, in their words, “(publishes) original research and investigations on issues affecting internet privacy, security, and freedom around the world.

There are several excellent VPNs, but only one of them is free. There’s a reason I called Proton VPN the best free upgrade to your online privacy.

why authoritarians fear vpns

Put simply, they allow users to get around location-based blocks that restrict which websites they can visit. If a country blocks people within its borders from accessing certain websites, using a VPN can get them around that block.

VPN stands for virtual private network. It acts as a middleman that shields your privacy by handling all the digital information as it flows between your computer and the world’s websites, in both directions.

Say you’re in Tehran. If you’re hooked up to a VPN, you can connect to a server in Brussels or Singapore or Philadelphia, and even though you and your device haven’t physically moved from Tehran, as far as it looks to the digital world, you’re operating from wherever your VPN server is located.

It also protects your privacy because any website or bad actor that tries to follow your activity across the web won’t make it as far as seeing your unique, identifiable IP address, only that of the VPN server you’re connected to.

Any decent VPN will have thousands of servers to choose from, and because you’re sharing the servers with other VPN users at the same time, you disappear into the crowd.

There’s a paid version of Proton VPN that comes with some worthwhile bonuses, but if you have difficulty making payments to Switzerland-based Proton or if you just can’t spare the cash, the free version is more than sufficient, especially compared to the legion of sketchy, free VPNs out there.