The VPN market has shown an exponential growth in the past decade since businesses and clients have become concerned of their data protection and privacy. Back in 2016, the combined VPN market produced revenue of $15 billion. After this, the occurrence of subsequent events will take the revenue graph to even a higher value in the next 10 years.
The growth in the VPN industry can be observed by the value of the mobile VPN market which was $525.4 million in 2017 and has been predicted to increase by 19.7% CAGR in between 20182023. This increase can be attributed to the growing hacking threats, requirement to by-pass censorship, growing breaches in privacy and use of wireless streaming devices.
This article will outline the main reasons for the growth in the VPN industry. The trending searches and use of theVPNs has never been more than it is today. Lets take a quick look on all the key factors contributing to the growth of the VPN industry:
Increase in Cyber Threats on Online Connections
The internet age is flooded with unsecured, open Wi-Fi networks in public which poses a serious privacy threat and gives access to your data theoretically to anyone connected on the same network. In fact, the use of false Wi-Fi connections is in trend to trick users into connecting to the network who then become a victim of cyber threats.
There are over 400 million hotspots active across the globe and almost 60% of the traffic on them is attributed to Wi-Fi connections. The hackers are well aware of these hotspots which provide a perfect breeding ground to them.
The fake Wi-Fi shares a common name and password to anyone who connects to it including the hacker who can take over your device within seconds. Hence businesses and consumers have started using VPNs to secure their devices and network.
Need to by-pass Censorship
Another key factor which has increased the use of VPNs is the need to by-pass censorship on the internet. There are countries such as China and Russia which do not allow VPNs; however, these countries havent impacted the growth of the industry. These countries have stringent laws against the use of VPNs which has brought great awareness indeed.
Governments of many countries impose censorship leading to the restricted access of certain websites and also keep a track of the online activity of their citizens. This censorship has an easy workaround through the use of VPN which encrypts the users connection and unblocks the restricted sites.
Breaches in Privacy
It seems as if every other company these days is becoming a victim of privacy breach. The classic breach scandals are of Facebook, Equifax etc which exposed the personal information of millions of users over the internet. This data was then illegally purchased and sold by opportunists.
These scandals indeed contributed to tremendous awareness among people regarding privacy and the need for security. Under such circumstances, it can rightly be said that benefits of online systems do not outweigh the serious consequences of hacking.
Ever since the internet came into being, this is the first time that the privacy of users has been in the limelight not only on media but strict laws across the world are being observed in regards to it. Even though a VPN may not be able to protect you always but the use of VPN services and technology has been the forefront in these awareness campaigns.
Use of Wireless Streaming Devices
The Cable TV is becoming an old story now and wireless devices for streaming are the new trend in the entertainment industry especially the Firestick. Even though devices like Firestick stream media content for free over the internet, you can still land into serious legal trouble if you are caught streaming copyrighted content.
Now uninterrupted entertainment is a hard habit to let go of however protection of privacy is equally important. The users hence must know the best VPNs for Firestick to bypass internet throttling and secure themselves from prying eyes. This is one of the core key factors that have contributed towards the trend of using VPNs.
This trend will not end any soon. The demand of the public for a private connection has gained popularity and has encouraged online entities to join their cause by signing agreements with good VPN providers or creating one of their own.
Generally, the never ending causes for using a VPN will never cease to exist and will only contribute towards the rise of the VPN industry further in the next 10 years.