What is VPN and how it works ?

What is VPN and how it works ?

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It expands a private network across a public network like the internet for example. It allows a computer to send and receive data across public or shared networks as if it were connected directly to the private network. These are all possible by starting a virtual point-to-point connection via dedicated connections, encryption, and most of the time the combination of the 2.

Connecting to the internet via VPN connection can be compared to a WAN or Wide Area Network that is linked between the sites. Connecting to the internet via VPN connection is very different when connecting the normal way. In the normal way, you just open your web browser and visit the website you want.

In this way, the website can easily track your actual location like your country of origin, your IP address, and so on. But when you are in a VPN connection, it’s different. When connecting via VPN, your connection uses tunneling which encrypts everything in your connection. The tunneling program also compresses the data you send and receive.

Your connection is then thrown to other VPN servers which might be located in other countries. From that point on, all your data will pass through it down to your computer. Whatever IP address the VPN server uses, it will reflect as your virtual IP address. When accessing a website, you will be tracked differently depending on the location of the VPN server.

If the VPN server is located in the Netherlands for example, you will appear as if you were actually in the Netherlands like your IP address and your country of origin whereas in fact you are actually in your home and you didn’t leave the country.