The VPN sounds rather mysterious, for some it may be a bit threatening, but not as devil as it is painted. Three inconspicuous letters hide behind them great power that can prove to be salutary.
What is a VPN?
To start with, it’s worth explaining what a VPN network is. From English it is Virtual Private Network, which simply means Virtual Private Network. That says a lot. Although it is a virtual network, i.e. one for which no cables are required to be connected, it is somewhat protected. As a result, access to it is limited and moderated. This is to increase security when working or exchanging files.
The condition for ensuring the security of the Virtual Private Network is first to create it in the company’s infrastructure, and only then to transfer access to it to users. How does VPN work in practice? This is not a complicated thing. To connect to the company’s local server, the user uses an encrypted VPN connection. It masks the user’s location, and at the same time allows full access to company files from anywhere on earth. Thanks to this, surfing the Internet through free, public Wi-Fi networks becomes safer.
How does VPN work?
More specifically, VPN encryption can be compared to encrypting websites, e.g. banks. They use the ” https ” protocol to encrypt sensitive data provided on such sites. In the case of VPN it is similar, except that it is called tunneling here.
Tunneling captures all packets that we send when connecting to a given website, encrypts them and puts in a new packet each time. This is a bit like creating a .zip archive. The server then unpacks these packages. However, anyone who intercepts them while sending them will only receive encrypted data and no information about what was ultimately our intention.
A VPN facilitates the use of public networks in cafes, parks or airports, the use of which in normal conditions is categorically discouraged because of a lack of security. The VPN network hides from users of the same network that we currently do on the Internet. Thanks to this, we gain the opportunity to check the e-mail or account balance freely, without the risk of anyone suspecting us.
Using a VPN has great benefits and even more possibilities. What’s more, the effectiveness and popularity of this solution is increasing day by day. First of all, because it enables safe use of the public network and allows access to its resources from every corner of the world.