All About VPNs: What is a VPN and What does a VPN do?

VPNs have come a long way from being the tool only for advanced users to a compulsion for almost everyone accessing out there. Wait till you read this fact if you believe VPN to be a luxury and not necessity:

“Number of Cybercrimes reported in 2019 has reached to an alarming level of 467,361 causing a total loss of more than $3.5 Billion” – Internet Crime Complaint Center.

The losses could have been a lot less if people took appropriate measures. VPNs can save you from 99.9% of cyber-threats that are posed to your system. Now that we have established the importance of using a VPN, let’s move forward to getting a better understanding on What is a VPN and How does it work.

What is a VPN and What does a VPN do?

To begin with, what does a VPN stand for and What does VPN Mean – VPN is an acronym that stands for Virtual Private Network. VPN or Virtual Private Network is a piece of software (sometimes hardware) that is aimed at providing you protection from various cyber-threats. VPNs or VPN Software employ various techniques and methods to safeguard your privacy and data that are otherwise vulnerable and exposed online.

When you are surfing the internet without a VPN, any person with reasonable technical skills in the field can easily track your IP address, what pages you are visiting, and the data that you are sending and receiving in many cases.

The information at risk involves your social media accounts, your bank account details, credit card details, your personal data, etc. This information can easily be misused to cause personal and financial harm. VPN aims at protecting all this information to offer protection to your personal and financial data.

This answers the question, what is a VPN and What does a VPN do? Now, how does a VPN work?

How does a VPN work?

As mentioned earlier, a VPN employs various techniques and methods to safeguard user data and privacy. The functioning of all VPNs varies depending upon the VPN protocol they use and also upon the number of features, and number of servers they offer. Know about VPN Protocols in detail.

A VPN Utilizes following techniques to safeguard your data:

⮚      Hiding IP Address:

IP Address (Internet Protocol Address) is a unique address provided to every device for the digital identification. Whenever a user gets on the internet and starts surfing, the IP Address of the device is used by the ISPs and Websites to identify the user sending and receiving information. So far so good.

The problem arises when a hacker tries to steal your IP Address which is a sensitive piece of information and can be used to harm you in many possible ways.

A VPN utilizes different servers to hide your IP Address. When a user connects to the internet with a VPN, the information, before going over the internet, goes to the server and then the server sends the same information to the website. This way, the website only gets the IP address of the Server and not of the user.

⮚      Encrypting:

The data that you send over the internet, be it a Message, an Image, your bank account details, or anything possible, is sent in the form Data Packets. Though you now have your IP Address hidden, the data that you send and receive can still fall in wrong hands.

Hence, VPN Encryption is used to protect the users from such threats. A VPN encrypts the data on data packets into codes which are only decryptable by the website or receiver and not a hacker in-between.

The level of VPN encryption depends upon the VPN protocol that a service provider uses in order to encrypt the data. The stronger the VPN encryption and secure, the harder the hit on your Internet speed.

⮚      VPN Tunnel:

To add another level of security, VPNs create a secure private tunnel between the sender and receiver that is separate from the route followed by all the other information over the internet. Creating a VPN Tunnel is like creating your own highway that is only open for your vehicle. This way, the information runs hidden and unnoticed by the hackers trying to steal the information. Whether a VPN utilizes a private Tunnel or not, depends upon the VPN Protocol it uses.

VPN FAQs:

⮚      Does a VPN Slow Down Internet:

Yes, a VPN does slow down internet speed. The severity of the impact depends upon the VPN you use. But VPN doesn’t leave your internet unusable. If you are using a decent broadband of Wi-Fi connection, you are not going to see much of a difference. However, people using mobile hotspots will suffer a little.

⮚      Do I need a VPN? Should I get a VPN?

If you have ever used the internet to send or receive some stuff that is of monetary or personal importance, then Yes, you should get a VPN.

⮚      Why do I need a VPN?

Because VPNs offer protection to your online identity and data. VPNs protect crucial information like User IDs, Passwords, Bank account details, Credit Card Information, etc.

⮚      Which is the Best VPN for Windows?

Systweak VPN is one of the best VPNs available for Windows available in the market with industry best encryption standards, secure VPN tunneling, IP Address masking, etc.

Systweak VPN:

Systweak VPN is one of the best VPNs available for Windows in the market. Systweak VPN offers a lot of useful features to offer best in industry protection from Cyber-threats. Some of the most highlighted features of Systweak VPN are as follows:

Download Now Systweak VPN

⮚      256-Bit Encryption:

Systweak VPN employs industry best 256-bit encryption to encrypt the data packets which makes it virtually impossible to crack it.

⮚      IKev2:

In addition to OpenVPN, it also uses IKev2 Tunneling VPN Protocol to create a private tunnel between sender and receiver to allow secure transmission of data.

⮚      IP Address Masking:

Systweak VPN masks your IP address with the help of 4500+ servers around the globe. This promotes anonymity over the web and protects users from Identity Theft.

With all these given features and more, Systweak VPN is one of the best VPNs available in the market.

So, this was all about VPNs, what does VPN stand for, what does a VPN do, and How does a VPN work. We hope we were able to provide you the information you were looking for. Keep visiting our blog for more such tech related content.

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