There are times when your VPN might lose it’s network connections. For example, you travel to a resort abroad, you connect to your VPN for privacy and choose a US IP address on your VPN so that you can browse the internet with a US IP address and even unblock content on some sites. However, for reasons unknown, your VPN has lost it’s connection with the IP address that you are using.
When this happens, your VPN switches to it’s default connection which would be the ISP of the resort and at that point your location is revealed. All the trackers know where you are and will smother you with vacation advertising and set cookies on your laptop. Of course, it could be more embarrassing if you are visiting an adult entertainment site or even a dating site. Without your VPN, you have little or no privacy. There after, you will get adult entertainment advertising and the cookies those sites set on your laptop will go home with you. If you were unblocking content, those sites will now know what you were up to and will set blocking cookies on your laptop.
Why VPN kill switch is important
Technically speaking, all data and your personal information transmitted during this outage would not be encrypted. Other data that your VPN would hide is:
- Your location
- IP address
- DNS traffic
- IP traffic
- WebRTC traffic
This is where the VPN kill switch comes in. A VPN equipped with a kill switch will closely monitor your connection and if the connection is lost, the VPN will immediately cut your internet connection completely. Your privacy will be intact, no trackers, no embarrassment, no unwanted advertising, and no negative cookies will be set on your laptop.
Of course it does not end there. Your VPN will reestablish its network connection and return you to your browsing.
Is a VPN kill switch just a marketing gimmick or is it really important?
You could say that all features on a sales page are just gimmicks, but in this case, the VPN kill switch is as important as your privacy. It is certainly not fake, its real and it works.