How Do VPNs Actually Work?

With the rise of the digital age, the online world has ushered in a brand new set of challenges. Unfortunately, being active online inevitably entails being vulnerable to an array of threats spanning from unwanted data surveillance to exposure of sensitive information to location tracking. In response to these perils, the Virtual Private Network, or VPN, has become a crucial shield.

VPNs have emerged as indispensable tools, providing internet users with anonymity and security. It’s time to delve into the realm of VPNs, including what they are, how they work, and just why they have become so essential.

 

What Is a VPN?

 

A VPN, short for ‘Virtual Private Network,’ is essentially a protected internet connection that can help to keep you safe while online. It enables you to establish a safeguarded connection, even when utilising public networks, ensuring that regardless of your online whereabouts, you can surf the web securely and with enhanced privacy.

One of the key features of a VPN is its ability to protect the location data of the user. For example, you may be browsing the internet in Central London, but your location may appear to be in a suburb of California.

 

How Does a VPN Work?

 

To explain how it works, it’s useful to use the analogy of someone going on a shopping trip in a city. If they travel above ground from shop to shop, it’s easy for any onlooker to see where they are going and how long they spend at each destination.

But what a VPN does is effectively provide an invisibility cloak so these movements can pass undetected. What’s more, it also hides the shopper’s identity by providing a different IP address each time they go online via a VPN.

To leave the analogy and go back to the technology itself, it achieves this in two ways. Firstly, it uses a proxy server that can be located anywhere to connect to the internet. It also encrypts the data being transferred to ensure that no outsider can intercept it.

 

What Does a VPN Do?

 

A VPN can be thought of as a private network, enhancing online safety and thus protecting users from prying eyes. But how is this accomplished?

By encrypting data in real time between users’ devices and the internet, a VPN establishes a secure private network. This encryption not only protects your online activities from unwanted third-party access but also conceals your identity by masking your IP address.

This is because, upon being connected to a VPN server, the server becomes the source of your data. Consequently, public networks and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can no longer monitor your online movements. Picture your online data and internet traffic as being transmitted through a private tunnel: within this tunnel, your data is encrypted, preventing third parties from snooping.

With the VPN now acting as a middleman between your device and the internet, your IP address, location, and internet activities remain concealed, thereby enhancing your privacy and safety.

 

Why Do I Need a VPN?

 

Reasons why VPNs are valuable may seem fairly evident. After all, nobody likes the idea of being spied on online. But there are many other reasons you may well need a VPN that may not be immediately apparent.

• Enhanced Privacy & Anonymity: As explained, VPNS can enhance your privacy and anonymity by masking your IP address, thus shielding your online activities. This makes it challenging for third parties to track you
• Protection Against Data Collection: In addition to safeguarding you and your data from tracking, VPNs can help prevent third parties, such as governments, hackers, or other third parties, from collecting your data. This can protect you from being targeted by unwanted campaigns
• Securing Data: VPNs safeguard sensitive information, including passwords, financial details such as credit card information, and personal messages, from interception by hackers or other malicious entities
• Secure Remote Access: Public networks can often be unreliable and even unsafe. VPNs facilitate secure remote access to private networks, a particularly useful feature for employees seeking to work from anywhere without compromising the security of sensitive data
• Bypass Geographical Restrictions: By masking your IP address, VPNs grant you a virtual location, enabling access to content that may have been previously restricted due to geographical boundaries
• Protecting Against Malware: Malware can infiltrate your system through various avenues, from unknown files to pop-up ads to suspicious websites. While VPNs aren’t antivirus software, they can still block pop-ups and other online threats

 

Speaking of protection against cyber threats, what about hackers – can VPNs thwart these unsavoury efforts too?

 

Can a VPN Stop Hackers?

 

VPNs encrypt your internet traffic, shielding your online activities from surveillance and data collection by ISPs, governments, and notably, cybercriminals and hackers.

Thanks to the encryption provided by VPNs, internet users enjoy a layer of protection against hackers. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that VPNs are not foolproof shields against cyber threats. While they significantly reduce the risk of data breaches and unauthorised access, they cannot guarantee absolute security.

Choosing a VPN with robust security features is crucial for comprehensive protection. Additionally, maintaining awareness of online safety practices such as using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, utilising incognito mode, regularly clearing cookies and keeping software up to date remains essential in protecting yourself from cyber threats.

 

What Does a VPN Not Hide?

 

While VPNs may be able to hide your IP address and encrypt internet traffic, they cannot hide everything. Indeed, as with most things, VPNs have limitations. For instance, VPNs cannot conceal the type of device you’re using, allowing websites to collect device-specific information even if they lack access to your browsing activities. Additionally, while VPNs may prevent ISPs from monitoring your online activities, VPNs cannot cover their own tracks. This means ISPs may be able to detect whenever you use VPNs.

Moreover, VPNs cannot fully mask your internet activity. Despite enhancing privacy, your online activities remain traceable, particularly if you remain signed into internet and social media accounts.

Furthermore, while VPNs contribute to protecting against malware and cyber attacks, they cannot offer comprehensive protection. Threats may persist from malicious websites, emails, or downloads. Therefore, users should still exercise caution and implement antivirus software and a firewall to mitigate these risks, even when using a VPN.

How To Choose a VPN

 

While a VPN may initially appear as a fail-safe method to safeguard your privacy and anonymity, bringing attention to what VPNs cannot hide sheds light on their limitations. Not all VPNs offer comprehensive security and safety, making it crucial to choose a trustworthy option.

Prioritising robust security features is at the top of the priority list. Research aspects such as the VPN’s no-logs policy (ensuring your online activities cannot be tracked and stored), encryption reliability, and security protocols to gain a clear picture of its effectiveness.

Research the VPN’s compatibility with your devices and the number of simultaneous connections it allows, especially if you tend to use multiple devices at once. Furthermore, assess the cost and compare subscription plans, including the availability of a free trial period to explore their interface and user-friendliness.

Finally, check out how extensive its server network is to see if it will give you global access and examine its customer support policies.

What Are the Advantages Of a VPN?

 

In addition to the privacy that it provides, there are a number of other benefits of using a VPN. For example, some websites and streaming services are only available from certain territories. But as a VPN conceals a user’s location, these suddenly become accessible.

Another, less obvious, benefit is that it allows users to avoid price discrimination. Some online retailers build an algorithm into their e-commerce site that increases prices for customers from big cities and other supposedly wealthier parts of a country. Again, a VPN hides the location and creates more of a level playing field when it comes to prices.

 

Is a VPN Really Secure?

 

Other privacy tools just cannot match the robust protection that a VPN offers for your data, identity, and autonomy across all applications. A VPN connection is established using extremely secure protocols with unbreakable encryption. However, not all VPNs offer comprehensive security and safety.

 

What Are Some Alternatives To VPNs?

 

Many people, it must be said, also consider that VPNs are becoming less and less fit for purpose in the rapidly advancing world of the internet. So, a number of cybersecurity operators have started to introduce different kinds of VPN alternatives. These are cloud-based services and provide all the encryption security of VPNs combined with far greater control and flexibility.

Instead of using just one kind of encryption, these tend to offer a number of different ones. They also provide businesses with even greater protection by segmenting users and giving them differing access rights depending on their needs. Plus, because they have been primarily designed for business use, they include many more features that can prove very useful to have.

These include the ability to monitor the network in general, no matter how disparate the workforce, essential for auditing and ensuring compliance.

 

Are VPNs Legal?

 

While the majority of nations allow the use of VPNs, others impose strict regulations on their use or are actively working to dissuade people from using them. Only a small number of nations have completely prohibited VPN use. It is highly advised that you research the rules governing VPN use in advance if you want to go overseas and use one during your trip.