VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. As with many of these things, the explanation is right there in the name. A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the Internet. Lets explore the basics of VPN and learn how does a VPN work.

VPNs evolved from the need of companies to have people access a computer system remotely, but with the same credentials as somebody who was logging in from the home network. But nowadays they are most popular not for the reasons they were originally created.

This is possible by setting up a special program, a VPN client, you can tell the computer you’re talking to that you’re a member of the same network.

In short, you’re creating a network in cyberspace, which means it’s virtual, not physically connected to each other. As it’s password protected, it’s also private, a virtual private network. A VPN is essentially a space online that you can use without other people having access.  It gives you online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection.

How Does a VPN Work?

Many people, even those who use VPNs on a regular basis don’t know how the technology works.  So in this article, we’re going to take you through everything you need to know about how VPNs operate.

VPNs use encryption to scramble data when it’s sent over a Wi-Fi network. Encryption makes the data unreadable. Data security is especially important when using a public Wi-Fi network, because it prevents anyone else on the network from eavesdropping on your internet activity.

There’s another side to privacy. Without a VPN, your internet service provider can know your entire browsing history. With a VPN, your search history is hidden. That’s because your web activity will be associated with the VPN server’s IP address, not yours. A VPN service provider may have servers all over the world. That means your search activity could appear to originate at any one of them. Keep in mind, search engines also track your search history, but they’ll associate that information with an IP address that’s not yours. Again, your VPN will keep your online activity private.

The Encryption Key

The central process with any VPN is the encryption of data. VPN software encrypts all the information sent out by your computer. This means that your Internet service provider, and the Internet, cannot intercept the traffic that you are transmitting over the worldwide web.

Encryption works by applying a secret code to the data in order to transform it in an undecipherable form. The information can then only be decrypted by a system that also has the key used to encrypt the data (pre-shared secret key), meaning that VPN networks are extremely difficult to crack. Most modern VPN systems offer AES-256 encryption. This level of encryption is practically impossible to breakdown.

Transmission of Data Over VPN

Once the data is encrypted on your computer it is sent through the virtual private network tunnel to the server that your VPN provider operates. This is part of the process of protecting your privacy and anonymity.

Then the VPN server transmits the data to whichever online destination or website it was intended to. The data between the VPN server and the target website is not encrypted, however to the online destination the traffic is originating from the VPN server and not your computer, thus disguising your computer and your location.

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A Beginner Guide

Why do you need a VPN service?

Surfing the web or transacting on an unsecured Wi-Fi network means you could be exposing your private information and browsing habits. That’s why a virtual private network, better known as a VPN, should be a must for anyone concerned about their online security and privacy.

The encryption and anonymity that a VPN provides helps protect your online activities: sending emails, shopping online, or paying bills. VPNs also help keep your web browsing anonymous.

How Does It Help Me?

You can use a VPN to:

• Bypass geographic restrictions on websites or streaming audio and video.
• Watch streaming media like Netflix and Hulu.
• Protect yourself from snooping on untrustworthy Wi-Fi hotspots.
• Gain at least some anonymity online by hiding your true location.
• Protect yourself from being logged while torrenting.

Many people these days are using a VPN for torrenting or bypassing geographic restrictions to watch content in a different country.

How to choose a VPN

Depending on your needs, you can either use a VPN from your workplace, create a VPN server yourself, or sometimes host one out of your house — but realistically the vast majority of people are just looking for something to protect them while torrenting or help them watch some media online that they can’t seem to access from their country.

Here are some questions to ask when you’re choosing a VPN provider.

1. Do they respect your privacy? The point of using a VPN is to protect your privacy, so it’s crucial that your VPN provider respects your privacy, too. They should have a no-log policy, which means that they never track or log your online activities.
2. Do they run the most current protocol? OpenVPN provides stronger security than other protocols, such as PPTP. OpenVPN is an open-source software that supports all the major operating systems.
3. Do they set data limits? Depending on your internet usage, bandwidth may be a large deciding factor for you. Make sure their services match your needs by checking to see if you’ll get full, unmetered bandwidth without data limits.
4. Where are the servers located? Decide which server locations are important to you. If you want to appear as if you’re accessing the Web from a certain locale, make sure there’s a server in that country.
5. Will you be able to set up VPN access on multiple devices? If you are like the average consumer, you typically use between three and five devices. Ideally, you’d be able to use the VPN on all of them at the same time.
6. How much will it cost? If price is important to you, then you may think that a free VPN is the best option. However, that some VPN services may not cost you money, but you might “pay” in other ways, such as being served frequent advertisements or having your personal information collected and sold to third parties. If you compare paid vs. free options, you may find that free VPNs:

• don’t offer the most current or secure protocols
• don’t offer the highest bandwidth and connection speeds to free users
• do have a higher disconnection rate
• don’t have as many servers in as many countries globally
• don’t offer support

There are many points to consider when you’re choosing a VPN, so do your research to make sure you’re getting the right fit for your needs. Regardless of which provider you choose, rest assured that a good VPN will provide more security, privacy, and anonymity online than a public Wi-Fi hotspot can.

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Other Example Uses for VPNs

VPNs are a fairly simple tool, but they can be used to do a wide variety of things:

• Access a Business Network While Traveling: VPNs are frequently used by business travelers to access their business’ network, including all its local network resources, while on the road. The local resources don’t have to be exposed directly to the Internet, which increases security.
• Access Your Home Network While Travelling: You can also set up your own VPN to access your own network while travelling. This will allow you to access a Windows Remote Desktop over the Internet, use local file shares, and play games over the Internet as if you were on the same LAN (local area network).
• Hide Your Browsing Activity From Your Local Network and ISP: If you’re using a public Wi-Fi connection, your browsing activity on non-HTTPS websites is visible to everyone neraby, if they know how to look. If you want to hide your browsing activity for a bit more privacy, you can connect to a VPN. The local network will only see a single, secure VPN connection. All the other traffic will travel over the VPN connection. While this can be used to bypass connection-monitoring by your Internet service provider, bear in mind that VPN providers may opt to log the traffic on their ends.
• Access Geo-Blocked Websites: Whether you’re an American trying to access your Netflix account while travelling out of the country or you wish you could use American media sites like Netflix, Pandora, and Hulu, you’ll be able to access these region-restricted services if you connect to a VPN located in the USA.
• Bypass Internet Censorship: Many Chinese people use VPNs to get around the Great Firewall of China and gain access to the entire Internet. (However, the Great Firewall has apparently started interfering with VPNs recently.)
• Downloading Files: Many people use VPN connections to download files via BitTorrent. This can actually be useful even if you’re downloading completely legal torrents. The same is true for other types of traffic your ISP might interfere with.

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Using a Corporate VPN in Windows

Connecting to a VPN is fairly simple. In Windows, press the Windows key, type VPN, and click the Set up a virtual private network (VPN) connection option. (If you use Windows 8, you’ll have to click the Settings category after searching.) Use the wizard to enter the address and login credentials of the VPN service you want to use. You can then connect to and disconnect from VPNs using the network icon in the system tray – the same one where you manage the Wi-Fi networks you’re connected to.

Good VPNs vs Bad Ones

Not all VPN services are created equal. In fact, there are so many untrustworthy services out there that we decided to do an article on the five worst free VPN providers. The main offences of these are that they may not even encrypt your traffic at all or do encrypt it, but then sell your data on to marketers.

Generally speaking, the best VPN services are paid ones, though there are a few exceptions.  Though there are plenty of differences between even the very best services, all of them have a few things in common.

First of all, they offer advanced encryption. This should go without saying. The problem is, though, that advanced encryption will slow down your internet connection a little, on top of the slowdown you’re already experiencing by sending your signal through another location.

The fastest VPN services may only see a drop of 10 percent of so, while some may slow to an absolute crawl. Another trick is to select a VPN provider with a lot of servers scattered across the globe, making it easier to find one that offers you a decent speed.

There are several types of encryption available for VPNs, called protocols, with each their up- and downsides. There are a few too many to list here, but the best and most used is OpenVPN. Other protocols include PPTP, L2TP/IPSec and SSL/TLS. Read our full VPN protocol breakdown to see the difference between all these.

User friendliness is another core requirement, especially if you’re not the biggest geek around. Generally speaking, you want to be looking for a provider with a clear interface and not too many obscure buttons; read our PIA review for one example of a good service.

Final Thoughts

A virtual private network is the very first line of defense against people trying to spy on your data and online behavior, even if they’re not perfect. We hope that this article has cleared up a few questions you may have had and brought you closer to start protecting your security and privacy by using one.

Credits: www.howtogeek.com, cloudwards.net