VPNs Explained: What a VPN is and How it Works

Do you ever worry about your online security whenever you use public Wi-Fi? Or has someone ever told you that there are risks, like someone stealing all your personal information, when you decide to use an insecure connection? Well, you must indeed have come across such concerns.

You might also have heard that the only way to stay secure and private online is to use a VPN. But do you understand what a VPN is or how it works?

Don’t worry—you’re in the right place. This article will give you everything you need to know about a VPN: what it is, how it works, and what it can help you with.

Let’s get started!

What’s a VPN?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is one of the best tools for ensuring internet privacy. Ideally, a VPN encrypts all your connections and hides your IP address while you’re online shopping, surfing, and banking.

Therefore, it’s easy to say that a VPN is a service that helps the user to stay private online. A VPN establishes an encrypted and secure connection between your internet and the computer, providing a private tunnel for all your communications and data while using public networks.

But how does a VPN exactly work?

How a VPN Works

Before we can discuss the details of how a VPN works, you must first understand how the internet works without one.

Connection Without a VPN

This is how it works: Your ISP connects your computer to the Internet, which ensures that all data between the device you’re using and the server connected flows via the ISP’s servers. Moreover, every device that connects to the Internet is given a unique number called an IP address.

Therefore, once your browser gets the correct IP address from the ISP, it initiates the connection with the website you’re trying to access. That way, your ISP knows exactly your IP address and the websites you visit, thanks to the fact that every ISP logs the DNS queries they process.

If you type the IP address or use a third-party DNS service, your ISP will still see the DNS request as they’re not usually encrypted.

Fortunately, HTTPS helps to prevent your ISP from seeing your activity online. However, even with HTTPS, your ISP will still be able to see and log the websites you visit; what your ISP can see, your government can.

Furthermore, your website can identify you through the unique IP addresses your ISP assigns your router. That way, they can tell your country and even your city. Therefore, you can’t say you’re anonymous or secure on the internet; that’s where a VPN comes in handy.

So, what will a VPN do to protect you online?

Connection with a VPN

A VPN works by routing your device’s internet connection via the chosen VPN server rather than your ISP. This means that when your data is seamlessly transmitted to the Internet, it simply comes from a VPN, not your computer.

In this case, the VPN is an intermediary that hides your real IP address and, hence, protects your identity. If your data gets intercepted, it’ll still be unreadable until it reaches the final destination. A VPN creates a private “tunnel” connection.

Therefore, when connected to a VPN, your ISP can see your connection to an IP address that belongs to a VPN server, not the websites you’re connected to. That way, your ISP won’t be able to see anything you do on the internet, thanks to the fact that all your data between your VPN server and your device is encrypted.

Hackers or even public Wi-Fi router operators won’t be able to see your personal information when connected to the internet. Websites will also be seeing the IP address from the server and not your real IP address.

So, now your VPN takes over then!

Choose the Best VPN

Your VPN takes the role of your ISP, handles the DNS queries, and monitors all the IP addresses that you visit. Therefore, it will be able to view all the traffic content that HTTPS does not protect.

Therefore, you must choose a VPN that’s not only trustworthy but also secure. That way, you can be assured of complete anonymity as you browse the internet. The best VPN you need to consider is one that keeps no logs, has several servers across several countries, should be fully audited and open source, and should use the most secure protocols.

ExtremeVPN is the top VPN you must consider. Free VPNs are also good, but if you want complete online privacy, consider avoiding free VPNs.