VPN: What Is It and How Does It Work?
Internet Security is extremely vital in today’s digital era. Every other day, we hear an incident regarding data theft or spying. Hackers try to accumulate the data of the user and track his/her online activity. A VPN works well for such occasions. VPN, or also known as Virtual Proxy Network gives us a private network out of a public connection.
It encapsulates network data so that hackers do not breach the protocol. All the online activities that we perform are not traceable as the IP address through which we are accessing the internet will be masked.
How VPN Works?
VPN establishes a tunnel. One end of the tunnel will be at the local network location of yours while the other one is extremely far, thousands of km away. This will display your actions from another place. Many people use VPNs nowadays to get unrestricted access to their favorite websites and applications.
People use VPN for Playstation as well to access games and stuff that is restricted when they are out of the nation. Apart from it, it also adds a security layer while performing any confidential task through a public network. For example, if you are opening your bank website to check balance and download statements whilst you are waiting outside a shop, you might land in trouble if you are using a public network as other people might be able to track your data.
If you are not using a VPN and surfing the internet, the service provider gets to know about your history. However, with the help of a VPN, you can get protection. Even the search engines nowadays track history. Even if you use VPN, the history will be tracked but the only beneficial thing would be that it will not be mapped with our IP address. It will be to some other location’s address.
Types of VPN
Basically, there are two types of VPNs. Let us see a brief about both of them:
Remote Access VPN
As the name suggests, Remote Access VPN permits the user to access resources of a private network remotely. With the usage of the internet, a secured connection is established between the user and the server. If an employee of a company is away from his/her office, then he/she can access files of the company through a VPN.
Site to Site VPN
Site to Site VPN is generally used by large companies. With the help of Site to Site VPN, companies connect their different branches located at different locations.
What Does a VPN Cover?
A lot of information is hidden behind a VPN connection. If a person knows your IP address, he/she can access your information on the internet. IP address represents your device and hence, if it goes into unauthorized hands, it can land you in trouble. VPN doesn’t use our IP address and through it, we can get a secured connection. But if we are using a public computer or device to surf the internet, there is a high chance that the history can still be observed.
If you are opting for a VPN Service, you need to ensure things before selecting. The first and foremost thing is that the VPN service must be using a secured and latest protocol. There are many protocols. One that provides the utmost security must be used by the service.
Another factor that you should also consider is the location of the servers. Certain services tend to display the locations it offers so that the user can get a better understanding. If you have a particular location to be displayed as yours, view the services’ server locations.
Price is also a vital factor that you should consider. Free VPNs are also available, but you may also receive targeted advertisements or your data might be mishandled. Generally, Free VPNs do not have a strong connection and hence, it might be possible that your connection is discontinued at a vital time. It is recommended to have a paid VPN service if your work is quite important and confidential.
This was all about VPNs and their work. There are many services that provide VPNs in the market. Some of them are free while some take charge. You need to identify your needs and select the one as per the constraints. We hope that the article has served its purpose and will help you in knowing about a VPN and its working.
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