Everything about a VPN (Beginner Guide) 2023
A VPN (virtual private network), is a secure tunnel between…
A VPN (virtual private network), is a secure tunnel between the internet and your device. VPNs are used to protect your online traffic from snooping, interference, and censorship.
VPN apps are often used by individuals who want to protect data transmission. It is the best way to secure our internet activity online.
VPN was not the first technology to make remote connections. before VPNs came into existence.
The most common way to connect computers between multiple offices was by using a leased line.
History of VPN:
VPN has been in existence for a long time now. Gurdeep Singh-Pall, a Microsoft employee, developed a point-to-point tunneling protocol(PPTP) back in 1996.
In the early days, a VPN was mostly used by business corporations to work on company tasks over a secure internet connection.
Why use a VPN:
By using a VPN, an individual can hide their IP address and location
a VPN lets you browse form public wi-fi hotspots like a coffee shop, an airport, a church, your local grocery store, etc.,
By preventing anyone from having access to your passwords emails, personal info like bank data and other sensitive information.
If you want to watch your favorite show but the website says it’s not available in your country or has limited access to.
You can easily unblock any type of streaming site or service that restricts content based on geo-location.
For example, I may be logging into my facebook account in shanghai, china. but with a VPN I can trick my location to Chicago or Paris.
By using a VPN, you can stop government network administrations from investigating your ISP.
you can avoid anyone having access to your data, see which sites you visit, or restrict certain kinds of traffic like streaming videos.
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How VPN Works
A VPN allows you to browse the internet in “stealth mode” by building a secure tunnel through your internet service provider(IPS).
Data traveling through the internet is often transported in clear text, which makes it easy for anyone who can see internet traffic can read the data.
This is certainly a problem if companies want to use the internet to share important confidential business information.
This is when VPN comes into the picture, instead of data crossing the internet out in the open.
It is first encrypted and compressed in an IP packet by the VPN and tunneled through the internet.
Reasons why not many people use a VPN:
- Many people are not aware that something as simple as using a public wi-fi network can put your security at greater risk.
- Some people do not like using a VPN because it slows down their internet speed.
- Some don’t use it cause a personal VPN cost money, although there are free VPNs they either come with tons of ads or sell your information.
Type of VPN:
Below are the 5 Types of VPN protocols that are commonly used by commercial VPN services:
- PPTP: point-to-point tunneling protocol.
- SSTP: Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol.
- L2TP/IPSec: Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol and IP Security.
- IKEv2: Internet Key Exchange version 2.
- OpenVPN: This is the most common and secure connection.
Among these 5 VPN protocols, OpenVPN is the industry standard and most secure commercial VPN.
Things to keep in mind:
- A VPN is a secure way to access the internet. it is not an internet connection.
- You don’t have to be technologically savvy since it is easy to use in just a click
- Consider using a good VPN when using a public wi-fi network.
Currently, the highest possible encryption has up to 256-bit. while it is necessary to have a higher bit encryption rate, having some form of VPN encryption is better than nothing at all.
Conclusion:
Hope you have learned about something from our article and if you have any question then do let us know about it vis the below comment box. Also if you are using any VPN do share your experience about that VPN. Feel free to share this post with your friends & family members.