Whether it’s for ensuring better privacy online, bypassing censorship or improving overall internet performance, more and more people around the world are turning to the best VPN services to improve their digital lives.
A VPN is a security software that spoofs users’ IP address, and allows users to appear as if they are browsing from a different location anywhere in the world. At the same time, it encrypts all data leaving the device for added security.
VPN usage has seen some big spikes in the last few years as conflicts, unrest and, of course, remote working continue to rise everywhere.
Looking at the latter point, Proxyrack, one of the best proxy providers out there, decided to compile a list of the safest countries from which to work remotely. Let’s take a look at some of its findings.
Who uses VPNs the most?
“In the current state of the world, more and more things are moving in digital spaces, the most notable of which are probably workers. (Opens in a new tab).
Experts look at several factors to determine the winners. It includes the percentage of citizens with active subscriptions to ensure VPN services, internet access, level of overall national cybersecurity, availability of 5G network, level of happiness of remote workers as even the average monthly salary.
According to its findings, the most cyber-secure countries for remote workers are mostly in Europe. Switzerland and the Netherlands topped the list, both earning an overall score of 7.62 out of 10.
Next to them are UK, Luxembourg, Singapore, Denmark, US, Germany, Finland and Canada.
Other interesting data sees people living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) having the most access to virtual private network software worldwide, with over 84% of the population using a UAE VPN.
The use of VPNs in Singapore is also high (more than 74% of citizens have such software downloaded on their devices), followed by VPN use in Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Turkey.
Meanwhile cybersecurity-wise, Greece wins the crown of having the best country in the world. It scored 96.1 out of 100 on the National CyberSecurity Index (Opens in a new tab)which measures the readiness of countries to prevent cyber threats and manage cyber incidents.
Lithuania, Belgium and Estonia also followed with a score of 93.51. At the bottom of the list we find the UK in 22nd position with 77.92 and the US in 43rd, scraping a 64.94 evaluation (like Thailand).
In this light, the NSA shared some security advice for remote workers such as regularly backing up data, keeping devices up-to-date as well as covering webcams and disable the microphone when not needed.
“In the age of telework, your home network can be used as an access point for nation-state actors and cybercriminals to steal sensitive information,” explained Neal Ziring, NSA’s Cybersecurity Technical Director. “We can mitigate this risk by securing our devices and networks, and through safe online behavior.”