App of the Week: Cloudflare’s WARP 1.1.1.

If you’ve watched any YouTube over the last few years, you’ve probably received an advertisement for a VPN. The services are pretty simple; rather than send your web requests to your internet provider, who can therefore see every web site you visit, a VPN diverts your traffic to their encrypted service first, using a range of their different servers.The advantages of a VPN are twofold: you can access content geo-locked in your country, and you can pirate content more securely. The disadvantages, however, are that you have to pay for them and, perhaps more crucially, that the supposed benefits to privacy only come you can trust the VPN to secure them. Though your internet provider can’t see your content when you use a VPN, the VPN provider can, and the attacker can as well.It could also be that the VPN is not made by trustworthy actors. In his recent book, “Dark Wire,” Joseph Cox wrote about the encrypted phone company Anom, which was secretly being run by the FBI as a sting operation, to infiltrate criminal networks. The phones were encrypted, but because the FBI owned the servers, they had all the data. So, put simply, they are likely running a VPN service right now.But what you want the privacy benefits of a VPN, but don’t use it to get around geo-fencing, don’t want to spend money, and don’t want to risk your data? Your choice then is Cloudflare’s WARP 1.1.1.1, a free VPN and DNS rerouting service that makes your internet faster and more private.WARP 1.1.1.1 is actually two services in one. 1.1.1.1 is a DNS resolver, a system which converts URLS into numeric IP addresses, so that your computer or phone can connect with a web site. Your modem and WiFi provider will do this already, but many of these are slow through overuse, can be throttled in busy periods, and aren’t updated with the latest security protocols and encryption standards. By contrast, 1.1.1.1 does not, and cannot mine user information, is less used, and because it’s managed by Cloudflare — the internet security architecture firm that protects about every single web site — it’s got the strongest security you could find.Children who use the computer can also enable 1.1.1.1 For Families, in the settings, letting you block malware and adult content.WARP is a relatively new addition to this, which adds end-to-end encryption to the mix. Whereas 1.1.1.1 only secures the DNS query — the point at which you reach for an address — WARP secures all traffic entirely, by rerouting all your traffic through Cloudflare’s encrypted, low-latency servers.In short, it makes your internet more private but doesn’t slow down your internet, like VPNs do — it actually makes it faster. I still recommend VPNs for some users — and will have a recommendation in the coming weeks — but for most users, WARP 1.1.1.1 is all you need, and it’s free! Just download the app on your computer or phone here, and it will automatically enable when you turn on your computer.

App of the Week: Cloudflare’s WARP 1.1.1.

More from the New York Sun

Israel Approves Death Penalty for Palestinians Convicted of Deadly Attacks

Despite Complicated Legacy, Tiger Woods’s Brand Continues To Survive Personal Drama

Anger at Senate GOP Reaches Fever Pitch With No DHS Deal in Sight, SAVE America Act Debate Stalled

More from the New York Sun

Israel Approves Death Penalty for Palestinians Convicted of Deadly Attacks

Despite Complicated Legacy, Tiger Woods’s Brand Continues To Survive Personal Drama

Anger at Senate GOP Reaches Fever Pitch With No DHS Deal in Sight, SAVE America Act Debate Stalled

Massie Raises More Than $300,000 During Marathon Livestream Fundraiser Featuring Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron Paul

Amid March Madness Betting Surge, Fed Study Warns of Rising Loan Delinquency Rates

As Midterms Loom, Gladiatorial Politics Substitutes for Governing

AI-Generated Crooner Accounts for Three of Top Five Songs on iTunes

Contender Backed by My Pillow Founder Faces Establishment Candidate in Arkansas Republican Runoff