Some antivirus programs can offer certain benefits, such as tools that help users avoid email-based phishing campaigns that steal sensitive login credentials. “I think he just felt like if he spent the money, the investment of paying for it was going to protect him from everything.”

“He had no understanding of those two technologies, really,” Brunty said. They were once considered vital to prevent nearby hackers from spying on online activity, but security experts now say that thanks to additional built-in security protections in most major browsers, virtual private networks are useful in only a handful of specific scenarios, like streaming video that is restricted in certain countries or getting around government censors like China’s “Great Firewall.” But the greatest threats most users face are no longer from viruses, particularly now that so much personal computing happens over the internet.īrunty said his dad also paid for a virtual private network, which routes a computer’s internet traffic through a third party.

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