Paid $120 for a VPN service and it saved my business data last week

I run a moving company and handle all my bookings and customer info online. That VPN blocked a phishing attempt that would've let someone into my client database. Has anyone else here had a cheap monthly service actually prevent a real attack?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimr9112d agoMost Upvoted

Funny timing on this post. I paid $120 for a VPN once and it just made my Netflix stop working in the other room, so at least you got your money's worth. Can't say my own close calls have ended that gracefully, mostly I just blame the dog for unplugging the router. But yeah, that extra second of "hey wait a minute" can make all the difference.

paulnguyen12d ago

A phishing email is usually a social engineering problem, not a VPN problem. That VPN just happened to be there but the real work was probably your own caution. I'd be careful giving a single service that much credit for one close call.

ben_fisher12d agoTop Commenter

Actually, @paulnguyen, I used to think exactly what you're saying here. I always told people phishing is 100% a human behavior thing and no tool can save you from yourself. But then last summer I got a spear phishing email that looked like it came from my own bank, same layout and everything. The only reason I caught it was because my VPN flagged the link domain before it even loaded. I still almost clicked it out of habit. So yeah, you're right that most of the credit goes to the user being careful, but I think there's something to be said for having that extra layer slow you down in the moment.