No. A VPN does not check your messages, links or files. Your browser's warnings, updates and two-step verification protect you, all free.
What solves it instead
- Keep Safe Browsing switched on in Chrome.
- Switch on two-step verification for your important accounts, starting with your email.
- Install updates for your system and browser when they are offered, and do not type a password on a page you reached through a link in a message.
The facts
| About | Word for word from the source | Source, checked on |
|---|---|---|
| What phishing is | Phishing is an attempt to steal personal information or break in to online accounts using deceptive emails, messages, ads, or sites that look similar to sites you already use. | support.google.com, |
| What Safe Browsing in Chrome warns about | When you use Google Safe Browsing in Chrome, you receive warnings that help protect you against malware, abusive sites and extensions, phishing, malicious and intrusive ads, and social engineering attacks. | support.google.com, |
| If your password is stolen anyway | With 2-Step Verification, or two-factor authentication, you can add an extra layer of security to your account in case your password is stolen. | support.google.com, |
What a VPN does change
Some VPN subscriptions bundle extras such as a blocklist for known malicious sites or an antivirus. Those are separate features, not the VPN itself; the provider pages list which plan includes what. The VPN itself hides your traffic from the network you are on, which matters on a network you do not trust. Check when a VPN is worth paying for
What a VPN protects
- YouEncrypted tunnel
- Your networkinternet provider, or the Wi-Fi of work, school or a café
Sees: only that you are connected to a VPN server, and how much data you send.
- VPN serverrun by the VPN provider
What a VPN does not change
- A phishing messageyou click the link yourself and type your password on a fake page
- An infected fileyou download and open it yourself on your device
- A data breach at a companythe password leaks at the company that stored it, not from your connection
What we did not check
2
- How well the malware blockers that some VPN providers bundle actually work: we have not tested them.
- The protection built into browsers other than Chrome.
Next step
- Keep Safe Browsing switched on in Chrome.