A VPN acts as a secure private channel protecting your online activities and citizenry of sensitive information. By the use of a VPN, your internet connection is encrypted, protecting your data from possible eavesdroppers or trackers who might just want to keep tabs with your internet surfing activities.
Through this article, you will gain some understanding into What does VPN mean and how to use them for protection of your online activity, as well as methods of bypassing geographical restraints applied to online services while working within the virtual private network.
What does VPN mean?
VPN, for its part, is otherwise referred to as Virtual Private Network which is like a shield to your online dealings. Your devices keep on communicating with different online entities while browsing the internet.
Whether or not you are aware of such facts, websites apparently learn your true IP address, thereby learning about your location, web browsing history, details of your operating system, and also many other items of information.
What are the benefits when using VPN connection?
- Data Privacy: Shields your online data from attack by hackers and cybercriminals.
- Robust Encryption: Make data incomprehensible even brute force attack, online activities kept private.
- Conceals Location: Obscures your actual location, and most of the time it does not log your activity, and therefore it increases user privacy.
- Access to Regional Content: Allows access to content that is not supposed to be accessed by altering your virtual location using the means of location spoofing.
How does a VPN Work?
The following steps are followed in getting a VPN;
- Establishing a secure connection: When you get connected to the internet by a VPN, a secure virtual tunnel is created that connects your device to the internet via a VPN server. This tunnel acts as a secure passage of all your online traffic.
- Altering your IP address: With your internet traffic passing through this VPN tunnel, your IP address is changed. Instead of exposing your initial IP-address the sites and services you are in contact with get the IP address of the VPN server.
- Data encryption: Encryption is used by VPNs to encrypt the tunneling process to protect its integrity. This encryption encrypts your data into a safe cipher and is therefore capable of keeping your information safe from unauthorized access by third parties.
How do we divide the types of VPNs?
While there is no-so-called, ISO certified taxonomy for the classification of VPN types, but there is the classification below that is currently established:
- Remote Access VPN: Remote access VPN helps users to access a remote network safely. It replicates the security as if one is connecting from a safe place, to that network. As more and more work taking place remotely has become prevalent, this type of VPN has become very popular, and allows employees to create a secure connection to their remote work network.
- Site-to-Site VPN: Siteto-site VPNs connect intranets at different geographical locations. This is especially beneficial for big companies having offices all over the world. Site-to-site VPNs integrate these dispersed office intranets into a single, integrated whole, thereby eliminating the need for employees to set up and link to several networks.
- VPN for individuals: VPNs for individuals are created keeping the needs of the user in mind. They securely and safely connect users to them to a VPN server and not to a different network. When users use personal VPN to access content off sites and services, then the advantage of the same is that it acts to fool the sites and services into assuming that the users are connecting to the server location via the VPN rather than connecting to the network from home. Surfshark as well as other popular service providers are personal VPNs.
How to choose the most ideal VPN service.
- Server coverage: Find a provider that has a wide world presence in order to have more locations to choose and better server performance.
- VPN encryption: Make sure the VPN applies AES-256 cipher, the industry standard of secure encryption.
- Server load: Lack of servers may result slow connection speeds. Ensure that the provider is able to balance user load.
- VPN protocols: Select a service that offers protocols such as OpenVPN, IKEv2 or, Wireless and boost your security depending on your preference.
- MultiHop: This capability is not necessary but can provide one more layer of security by transferring your traffic through several servers at once.
- Obfuscated VPN servers: Choose a service that provides obfuscated servers for purposes of overcoming VPN blockers and avoiding oppressive governments’ monitoring your privacy.
- servers that just have RAM: Consider finding a VPN company that uses servers that can use only RAM, and are such that when they are shut down all the data is wiped off to provide more security.
- Privacy Statement: Ensure that the VPN provider does not automatically log important information and has a very strict privacy policy. Be careful if a provider has no privacy policies whatsoever.
Conclusion
A VPN is a necessity for online security and privacy. Your data is encrypted, your address is masked, and you can get to things that are forbidden. Consider factors such as server coverage, encryption, server load, protocols, privacy policies, etc. when choosing a VPN service to get the best safety for your online activities.
