What? Another VPN Guide? Oh please, what’s it going to say this time?
I’m sure that you’ve come across a lot of VPN guides before so I don’t blame you if your reaction is somewhat like what I have written above. People have been writing these guides for as long as I can remember. Actually, they have been writing these since the very first day “Virtual Private Networks” were introduced (read more). And when was that? Ten – no, maybe fifteen years ago? I know it sounds redundant but I tell you, this guide is a little different.
In what way, you ask? Let’s just say that this guide simplifies things. It’s not one of those guides that make you want to rip your hair out right after reading them. This is not going to be full of high-vocab tech words that almost sound gibberish. This guide is going to be simple. So simple, in fact, that you won’t need any other guide aside from this one.
So today, I’m going to start where every other guide starts. Let’s answer the basic question: What is a Virtual Private Network?
What Is VPN?
Well, I think by now you have an idea about what a VPN is, how it functions, and the purpose of it. Please regard it as a refresher of some sort.
VPN is an acronym that stands for Virtual Private Network. (Check out this cool video explaining how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wQTRMBAvzg). When we think of the words “virtual” and “network” together, the first thing that comes to mind is the internet or the World Wide Web (WWW). After all, it’s the largest virtual network we have in the whole planet. Since the internet is very vast, all kinds of personalities and organizations exist online. They all have their own space in this limitless realm. The people, businesses, and organizations that make up this network vary. There may be good ones, average ones, and even bad ones. There’s no telling who or what the internet actually holds. It’s a network accessible to all types of people from all sorts of places. The only real requirement is a good internet connection, really. If you have it, then you basically gain access to the world’s information.
This makes the internet one of the most dangerous places too.
You’ll never know who or what you’ll encounter while browsing online. An innocent search or website visit may lead to an invasion of your personal space. Online, this means illegal access to your personal data or information through malware and viruses. When bad people get a hold of your personally identifying information, they may misuse and abuse it in many ways. They can frame your identity for a cybercrime, for example. They can set up your personal profile in malicious websites such as those found in the dark web. If you have your credit card information stored somewhere online, they may even use such information to damage you financially. After all, you can literally buy anything online with just a credit card number. There are many ways a bad person or organization can violate your personal information online. And unlike in real life, pricks like this are harder to find in cyberspace – especially when they specialize in online systems.
Bottom-line is that a VPN can help you avoid the worst by making sure that your browsing is secure online. By using a private network, your personal data is concealed or “masked.” A VPN automatically disguises your IP address when you surf online. This means that even if someone was to track your location or try to get into your personal database, they will be stopped by the layers of security the private network has put in place. And since you’re using a fake or masked IP, they won’t be able to trace the number down anyway. Joining a VPN network is one of the safest and most secure ways to surf online. There’s also something we call double VPN. Know more about what a double VPN is here.
To make you understand this better, let’s cite a more visual example.
A VPN network is like a tunnel, you see. Your computer is the train. So imagine a train with code “0145.” That is your code; your real one. When the train goes into the tunnel, a train there with a different code is waiting to switch places. By the time the train reaches the end of the tunnel, it bears a different code already, code “0673.”
This is what a VPN technically does. As your PC connects to the private network, it is granted a new, unidentifiable IP address – far different from the original. This then allows you to surf safer online.
See, didn’t I tell you it was going to be easy?
I hope now, you clearly understand how these networks operate! Why not check out a VPN provider today?
