Unsurprisingly, more people are turning to VPNs during the time of crisis — and that’s what we’re facing these days.
According to data collected by Atlas VPN, the number of Google searches for “What is VPN” increased by 81% around the world, with the frequency of this query growing steadily over the first three weeks of March.
To come to these findings, the company used Google Trends, which provides numbers that show search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term, while value of 50 means it is half as popular.
At first, the interest only increased by 9%, but by March 21 – the number of “What is VPN” searches suddenly skyrocketed, increasing by 81% compared to the first week of March.
In the US, the interest in VPNs has been growing steadily since the end of January. During the second week of March, it increased by approximately 16%, compared to March 1-7. By March 21, the number peaked — increasing by around 88%, compared to the first week of March.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the number of “What is VPN” queries started rising from the last week of February. Over the next month, the number was growing steadily, eventually peaking over the fourth week of March (22-28) and increasing by approximately 156%.
As for the United Kingdom, there, the interest started growing within the first week of March. The number of searches increased by 24% comparing the first two weeks of March between one another. It suddenly peaked by the third week of March, growing by around 104% in comparison to March 1-7.
The situation is even more drastic in Australia, where the number of “What is VPN” queries by March 21 increased by somewhat around 170%, counting from the first week of the same month.
Finally, in the United Arab Emirates, the interest in VPNs was changing dramatically throughout the nine weeks. In the first week of March, it reached the lowest number of “What is VPN” queries registered by Google Trends. Then, it suddenly started growing, showing approximately a 354% increase in the number of searches from the last to the first week of March.
With more and more people staying at home, everyone wants to be safe while browsing the web. Also, a VPN is useful for employees accessing office files remotely, making their “regular” connection more secure, while also letting them bypass various restrictions.
Short for Virtual Private Network, a VPN protects your online connections and hides your identity. By encrypting your traffic and hiding your IP addresses, it ensures your browsing is safe from third parties tracking your online actions.