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Haven’t you watched in awe and wonder as the MCU universe introduced one AI technology after another? Everybody wanted to be Tony Stark at one point. And lo and behold, artificial intelligence is no longer found only in the realm of science fiction, but you can find it in your car, pocket, and around you.
Do you use VPN for your online privacy and security? Would you be surprised to know that AI technology has a significant role to play in the development of VPN technology?
The global VPN market is set to reach $85.15 billion by 2025. AI is already being discussed by a number of premium VPN providers, including ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and NordVPN. Continue reading to know more.
How can VPNs use AI?
The VPN technology works by sending Internet traffic through a remote server, which travels through an encrypted tunnel. Encryption is at the heart of VPNs, and other features include ad-blockers, a kill switch, and a no-logs policy. Some of the common ways AI can be used in VPNs are:
VPN connection optimization
AI can be used to optimize available VPN connections so that the fastest and more secure server is automatically selected. Hence, users do not need to think twice before they connect to VPN server because AI has already done the homework and is presenting the best options. This is going to reduce latency and improve performance.
Customizing the VPN experience
VPN providers can utilize AI to personalize their users’ experiences. AI can automatically scan and recommend the best servers according to the user’s needs and location. This will result in an improved user experience, and users can save time and effort as they no longer have to search for the most secure servers for their needs.
Malware detection and blocking
AI’s role in detecting and blocking malware can be utilized by VPN providers. Sometimes, viruses, malware, or anybody with malicious intent may try to tamper with the VPN connections. But AI can thwart these attempts and protect users.
Hence, marrying VPN and AI will result in better security and user-friendliness of the VPN apps, and the capabilities of the VPN technology will expand. With the help of AI, VPNs might be able to encrypt file transfers, block malicious or annoying ads and even create virtual private networks on demand.
Let’s Look at AI’s Impact on Individual VPN Features
Censorship
Besides security, one of the main applications of VPN is to deceive the host server into believing the user is browsing the web from a different location. This helps in accessing geo-restricted content, such as location-based TV shows and movies, news, etc.
VPNs using AI will be able to counter other AI-based algorithms. Hence, they will play a significant role in working around censorship.
In many nations, such as China and Russia, censorship is increasingly becoming the order of the day. Using VPNs, users can disguise their IP address and make the host server think they are somewhere else. This will allow users access to content libraries worldwide and other web services, such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook.
But there’s also a contrary debate regarding the development of AI technology and its use in yielding more complex algorithms that censors will use to block specific content by identifying users.
It remains to be seen whether VPNs using AI will be able to overcome this clash or whether there will be a clash between VPNs and AI when it comes to censorship.
Security
Modern VPNs offer a plethora of security features, including tracking blockers, dark web monitoring, and malicious website detection. There are so many online threats that VPNs protect their users from, such as DDoS attacks, Man-in-the-Middle attacks, malicious Wi-Fi networks, etc.
Using AI, it might become easier and much more fuss-free for VPNs to pick up on viruses, malware, and other cybersecurity threats. It will be easier to guide users away from harmful websites.
Furthermore, AI can also be used to detect and thwart AI-based cyber threats.
Encryption
VPNs use multiple encryption and security protocols to protect their users from potentially harmful sites and hackers. Some protocols used are OpenVPN, PPTP, KEv2/IPsec, etc.
Although there are several protocols, VPN providers generally use one kind of protocol across the board. But with AI, it will become easier for VPNs to bounce from one protocol to another whenever required. For instance, if one data requires AES-128 but another requires AES-256, AI can pick up the perfect time to switch the protocols without interrupting data transfer.
What Changes Can You Expect in VPN Technology?
AI-powered VPNs can bring significant changes to the VPN industry. The future versions may include the following technologies:
IP tunneling, which will cover all IP packets as against data covered only inside the specific IP packet.
VPN users might be able to ID their traffic and information over their VPN via fingerprinting.
The task of setting up and using VPNs will become much easier as AI will detect and select the best server and also switch encryption protocols when required.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is expected to play a major role in the evolution and future of VPN technology. AI is poised to make VPNs much more user-friendly, secure, and feature-rich than they are today. It will make them the most reliable and must-have tools for protecting online privacy and security.
AI-powered VPNs will make detecting and blocking cyber threats easier, improve encryption, detect and hide more traffic, find the best connections, and more.
Also, all reliable and reputable VPNs undergo independent audits to ensure their services are above the board. But even the best agencies tend to miss a thing or two, which might be due to human or technical error. When the audit is carried out using AI, it will offer much more accurate and precise results. So, VPN companies may use AI to perform internal audits to ensure their services are always above par.
What do you think of AI’s impact on the future of VPN technologies? Leave your comment below.
