Half of America’s full-time remote workers use a VPN

Around two in five of America’s remote workers are always on a virtual private network (VPN) when using their work computer.

A recent poll conducted by YouGov shows 52% of workers who work remotely all the time and have access to a work computer say they always connect to a VPN, while 14% say they do so sometimes, 15% say rarely and 15% never do.

While restrictions have lifted around much of the world, remote work remains prevalent, especially in the United States. This means employees are working at home, in coffee shops, or elsewhere where network security could be weak, potentially putting company data in jeopardy.

Close to a quarter of Americans don’t know anything at all about what a VPN does (23%); half know a little (52%), and around one in five (21%) know a lot.

Countless well-publicized data breaches and hacking incidents have led to privacy concerns among Americans, pushing them to services such as VPNs.

While VPN use is common when using work on computers, a significant proportion of US adults also use them when on their personal computer. Roughly a third (32%) say they use VPNs on their personal device at least sometimes, 13% of who use it all the time.

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Methodology: YouGov polled 1,004 US adults online on August 24, 2021 between1:11 p.m. and 2:26 EST. The survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. Data is weighted by age, gender, education level, political affiliation, and ethnicity. Results are nationally representative of adults in the United States. The margin of error is 4.3% for the overall sample. Learn more about YouGov Direct.