VPNs - and even Tor - can be compromised, especially by government cybersecurity agencies, although attacking Tor may require more resources. Some VPN providers, even those that charge for their services, have experienced significant security breaches (just search for terms like “VPN loopholes” or “VPN hack” on Google). Free VPNs are generally even less reliable, and there are rumors that some may function as honeypots. Tor, while offering stronger anonymity, tends to be slower - routing traffic through multiple nodes adds considerable latency.
The alternative is to leave cloud services, use GnuPG to encrypt your mail on your device and use a VPN / TOR for any interaction with the net.
VPNs - and even Tor - can be compromised, especially by government cybersecurity agencies, although attacking Tor may require more resources. Some VPN providers, even those that charge for their services, have experienced significant security breaches (just search for terms like “VPN loopholes” or “VPN hack” on Google). Free VPNs are generally even less reliable, and there are rumors that some may function as honeypots. Tor, while offering stronger anonymity, tends to be slower - routing traffic through multiple nodes adds considerable latency.