TOP Questions About VPN

The acronym VPN consists of the phrase Virtual Private Network, which means a private network of a virtual nature. Initially, the inventors had the task of protecting the anonymity of user information on the Internet. Today, technology fully copes with this task.

The question of online security

The Internet, being a global open platform for any willing user, potentially carries dangers. In the early days of the network, the goal was to transmit data as safely as possible. Because the technology was new, nodes often had technical glitches. Communication was done with the help of protocols - special connection methods. These failed to fully ensure the safety and security of data transmission.

Because of this technological flaw, every user was at risk. Criminals could have access to information of a financial nature. For example, credit card or banking information. Or for example, many governments practice eavesdropping on their citizens. The data could be used by special services against the interests of citizens.

Principle of operation

VPN is a secure corridor on the open Internet. The technology involves encrypting data before it is sent. Even if such files end up in the hands of ill-wishers, they will not be able to decrypt them and gain access to the content. This is quite a reliable and powerful tool in matters of network security.

In practice, it looks like this: the user intends to visit a particular site. To access that site, your computer forms a request and sends it with some files to the network. When an office computer is used for this purpose, the files being sent go through switches and routers located on the local office network.

When this data reaches the network, it is also sent through many other network computers. This site is transmitted as a DNS name. To do this, the computer also forms a request to the IP address of the desired site. This information is also sent back through many computers and network devices. When it reaches the infrastructure of the desired site, it also goes through routers at the local level.

Only then does access to the site come back in the form of a mass of individual files. These files arrive at the user's computer. The secure corridor that the VPN creates between the server and the client also goes through the ISP. However, the ISP has no way to view the contents of the files being transmitted because they are sent in encrypted form.

The VPN server is usually open, it is not encrypted when communicating with an open network. But servers log the IP address of the VPN server, which contains no useful information about the user's data.

Types of VPNs

In the field of technology, the acronym LAN is also common. It is a local area network. This word should be understood as a local network within a single room: residential or office. But when it comes to companies, some of them have several offices in different locations. Each of these offices needs to be connected to each other.

In special cases, companies can rent private local lines. This does not come cheap. To reduce costs, companies can use the public Internet. To protect data transmission between offices and branches, they use a VPN.

In this case, it will be a corporate VPN, where the starting and ending points belong to the same owner. The company can be sure that the data between offices are secure.

It is also common to distinguish the consumer VPN. This option is used by those who often connect from public locations to popular platforms. For example, it could be a connection from a coffee shop to a bank website or to social media. The consumer VPN in this case reliably protects the user's data.

Features of a consumer VPN

In this case, an application is used to connect. It has to be run on the user's computer. Running the application allows the data to be encrypted to send through a secure aisle. This data is transmitted to the service provider's server. There, it is decrypted and sent to the recipient. The application, in turn, does not see the IP address of the sender. Instead of its address, it sees the IP of the VPN application.

Dedicated server

However, it's important to keep in mind that a consumer VPN isn't always secure enough. According to users, they can be completely confident when they trust the VPN provider. There have been known cases where unscrupulous VPN service providers have sold customer data for money or left it unsecured.