What is it and who needs it

Virtual, private networks – VPNs in short – guarantee security and anonymity across networks. How do they work and what do people need them for.

Using a VPN is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself online. For example, journalists use VPN networks for secure communication, and those who don’t want Google and Amazon to be constantly informed of their whereabouts will also find happiness with a VPN connection. But be careful: encrypted communication does not provide any additional protection against viruses and Trojans.

what is vpn

VPN stands for “Virtual Private Network”, i.e. “Virtual, Private Network”. The so-called VPN services also make it possible to establish a protected connection in the network and encrypt your own data traffic. Users can imagine the whole thing as a tunnel for a provider through which all data flows. This makes it difficult for third parties to access this data or follow a user’s traces on the Internet.

Who needs a VPN connection?

Anyone on the Internet through a VPN connection hides their real location and gets an IP address different from their actual IP address. For example, users can pretend to be from another country through a VPN. If you want to call a website, everything runs through the service used, which forwards the data to the user. The visited page does not have its own IP address, but that of the provider’s server.

There is also the possibility of secure communication: VPN connections are encrypted and simply cannot be viewed. This is useful, for example, in countries where it is not welcome to talk to and provide information to journalists.

VPN services also provide protection for users who wish to dial into a public WLAN network. One of the methods used by criminals is to use such WLAN networks to obtain data from users using them.

Some companies also use VPN networks. For example, they should enable employees to access sensitive company data from their home office or while traveling.

How do I use VPN?

Users dial into the VPN network with the help of a VPN client i.e. software. There are various technical possibilities: either you download a client or you use browser-based solutions. Many services offer subscription models that usually cost only a few euros per month. There are also free offers, which, however, often have restrictions – including limited data amounts or advertising.