What is VPN?

Imagine you are at Starbucks. Desperately trying to connect your phone to the public wifi.

The barista hands you the password, along with your Caffe Americano, and you are ready to surf the web on the internet.

But just as you enter the password, your personal details and IP address becomes accessible to everybody on the network.

You may not know this, but lurking on the web are cyber criminals who can steal your data faster than you can sip your Americano.

Let’s be realistic. Online data theft may not be as dramatic as Hollywood hacking movies, but the threat is real.

That’s where a VPN comes into the picture. It provides you anonymity on the internet by adding a layer of online security and makes your online adventures (and misadventures) a lot safer.

Hence, fasten your virtual belts as we embark on the journey of: Understanding VPNs, its features, advantages, and disadvantages.

What is a VPN?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a system that creates a secure communication channel between two networks or between a computing device and a network on the internet.

Let’s say, you want to visit the Amazon website and shop for products.

You will enter the website name (Amazon-in this case) in your browser or search engine. Now your ISP (Internet Service Provider) transfers the request to a server that hosts the Amazon website.

The server receives your request and sends back information, and you will access Amazon.com in your browser.

But, the problem is, servers cannot understand a string of alphabets.

Therefore, your ISP and the server communicate using numbers, also called IP addresses.

Similar to a home address, every device with an internet connection has an IP address. Your mobile phone, laptop, and modem have IP addresses.

When you surf the web, the device IP address is visible to your ISP and the servers you visit.

Along with your IP address, your information on the device, including your email address and browser search history, become available to the ISP and other servers.

Thus, your data might be prone to malware attacks and identity theft by cybercriminals.

But, if you are a VPN user, your VPN prevents others from seeing your IP address by making it anonymous.

It’s like you are surfing the web wearing an invisibility cloak.

A VPN shows a duplicate or non-existing IP address to other servers instead of your original one, making you disguised on the web.

This way, your information is safe from your ISP, servers, websites you visit, and government agencies.

How does a VPN Work?

A VPN encrypts your data.

Encryption turns your information into an incoherent set of codes. Anyone without a key cannot understand the code and decrypt your IP address, which means your data becomes unreadable to others.

The key to your data is with the VPN network.

Basically, a VPN service creates a tunnel between your device and any other external server you want to access.

Whenever you visit a server, your information travels through that tunnel.

For example, when surfing the web, you request an external server for a domain address. This external server might be within or outside the country.

Your domain request travels through the VPN tunnel, invisible to others on the web. While the external server and your ISP will see the VPNs location and IP address instead of yours.

Moreover, you can also mask your location and access geo-restricted content from other countries.

To summarize, a VPN masks your information online and protects it from cyber theft or spying.

When should you use a VPN?

Earlier, VPNs were only used by businesses to provide secure connections to their employees.

Companies need a private secure connection to protect their confidential information.

Yet, with the rise of remote work and the internet, more and more people are using VPNs to protect their data and access content from other countries.

According to an Economic Times report, there are around 270 million VPN users in India in 2022. It’s a jump from 2020, whereas only 45 million people used VPN in 2020.

A VPN can benefit you in various ways. Whether you want to access public wifi, deal with sensitive information, or simply watch Netflix. These activities become much safer with a VPN.

Here are a few reasons why you should use a VPN:

1. Privacy on Public Wifi

If you regularly use public wifi, beware of phishing and information hacking from your device.

Public wifi is highly insecure, but a VPN can eliminate privacy concerns. You can use VPN and access any website on public wifi securely.

2. Privacy from Internet Service Provider

Your ISP has access to your browsing history and other information. Websites you visit, what you do on those sites, and everything.

They can use your information for advertising. With a VPN, you can ensure nobody knows what you do or search on your device.

3. Masking Your Information From Websites and Apps You Use

‘’Accept Cookies?’’

You might have seen this question on almost every site you visit.

When you accept cookies, you allow that website to access your search behavior and history and use them for advertising or to show customized content.

It’s not always safe to let other sites view your online activity. However, a VPN can give you privacy from websites and apps you visit.

4. Bypass Geo-Restricted Content

You might know that Netflix US and Hulu have great content, but you cannot watch those content in India.

However, with the help of a VPN, you can watch content blocked in your country.

Not just content, but you can also download apps or access websites blocked in India.

5. Data Security from Government Agencies and Hackers

The government might spy on your online activities.

Okay, not on everybody, but perhaps selected individuals.

Like George Orwell’s 1984, it’s similar on the internet, ‘’The Big Boss is Watching You’’. If you feel your information is unsafe or somebody is monitoring your online activity.

Then, you might need a VPN.

6. Secure Remote Work

After Covid, remote work has become the new normal.

Remote work may require dealing with sensitive information, financial transactions, or confidential video calls.

You need a VPN for a secure connection and to protect your work data.

7. Protect Financial Transactions

Let’s say you are transferring money to a family member from a railway station using public railway wifi.

In this case, when you enter your bank password or UPI pin for the transaction, your bank information can become vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

Avoid money transactions using public wifi or simply use a VPN to protect your information.

8. Access More Games

A VPN re-routes your internet connection. You appear to be from a different country to other servers, which allows you to access a wider library of games.

Several games are restricted in India because of graphic content. With a VPN, you can get around the ban and play the games you desire.

9. Clear Social Media Blocks

Do you know that Google, Facebook, or Twitter are not available in countries like China and Iran?

Nevertheless, with a VPN, you can overcome these social media blocks if you are visiting these countries.

10. Save Money on Bookings

Airlines, hotels, and subscription services charge different prices for different locations. A VPN can help you save money on flight bookings or subscriptions via its location spoofing capability.

If you travel regularly or prefer watching content from other countries and purchasing subscriptions. Then, you should use a VPN.

Features of a Good VPN

Buying a Good VPN is as easy as pie. All you have to do is select a VPN service provider and a subscription service based on your needs, and you are ready to go.

Despite that, it can be tricky to choose a Good VPN.

That’s why look for these features when purchasing a VPN service to get better security and privacy.

1. Multiple device subscription: A good VPN service should cover all your devices, including your laptop, computer, tablet, or mobile phone.

2. No-logs policy: This policy determines whether a VPN keeps a record of your online activities. Generally, a VPN with a zero-logs policy or no-logs policy is rare, but choose a VPN with a minimum log policy.

3. Kill-switch: A VPN kill switch disconnects you from the internet when you access servers outside your secure VPN tunnel.

4. Servers: More servers ensure better speed. Check the number of servers the VPN service has in your country.

5. Streaming: Ask the customer service of your VPN whether they allow access to geo-blocked content.

6. Privacy policy: Read the privacy policy of the VPN provider to understand how secure your data is.

7. Encryption: Typically, AES-256-bit level encryption is considered the gold standard. Analyze the encryption level before purchasing a subscription.

8. Protection from data leaks- A good VPN should protect against DNS (Domain Name Server) leaks.

9. VPN Location: Read the local data laws which govern the VPN service. The country authorities, where your VPN is based might ask the service provider for the user’s data for spying or investigative reasons. Confirm if the authorities can easily access the data from VPN services.

10. Read reviews: Examine the pros and cons of your VPNs through customer reviews. Make sure you are checking the reviews from Indian users if you are buying a subscription from India.

11. Internet speed: A good VPN will not drastically reduce your internet speed.

12. Tunneling: Good VPNs allow you to access some websites without VPN protection. For example, if you want to visit your bank’s website (Which already provides a secure connection), you can detunnel the website to decrease the load on the VPN server and allow the bank to verify you easily through your IP address.

Is a VPN 100% Safe?

Nothing on the internet is 100% safe. Even your VPN can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Still, it’s better to have protection than zero protection.

While VPNs protect your data, they do not protect your device. Your device is prone to virus attacks, which can be used to steal information.

Also, some VPN providers may keep your online browsing record in their logs. They do not provide 100% privacy from other websites on the internet.

Some parts of your information might still be visible to advertisers or websites.

Can VPNs make your internet connection faster?

Usually, VPNs decrease your internet speed by 20–30%. In certain your internet speed can increase.

For instance, if you are downloading large files from the internet. Your ISP might throttle your speed to maintain the network speed, but with a VPN, your internet speed can increase when you are downloading large files.

Advantages of using VPNs

There are several perks of using a VPN. Here are a few you should know about:

• Secure network: VPN users can protect their log-in data and search history from websites and other servers.
• Mask Your IP Address: You can mask your IP address from everybody on the internet, including your ISP.
• Prevent data throttling: Your ISP may slow down your internet speed after you consume a specific amount of data, but with VPN, you can circumvent that.
• Access banned websites and content: Your VPN makes your address appear as if you are from a different country (where your VPN is located). Allowing you to access restricted content and sites on the internet.
• Additional protection from ad trackers and obfuscated servers: VPNs provide additional features such as dark web monitoring, hiding your VPN connection from VPN detecting software, and masking your device on a LAN (Local area network). These features add an extra layer of protection to your online data.

Disadvantages of using VPNs

There are a few limitations of VPN that you should know if you are planning to use a VPN service.

Remember that the benefits of a VPN outweigh these drawbacks.

• VPNs can slow down your internet speed by 10–20%, depending on your service.
• A few streaming or e-commerce platforms might block VPN users to prevent them from accessing their services by manipulating their location.
• Some countries like Russia and China have banned VPNs, or they are highly regulated in a few countries.
• Free VPNs are not functional. These services might be a front to collect user’s data for advertising. So, beware of them.
• They are not completely safe. VPN service providers can be hacked too.
• VPNs cannot protect you from malware or phishing attacks by bad actors on the web.

Conclusion

Clive Humby, the data science entrepreneur, once said, ‘’Data is the new oil’’. His quote seems true in the age of AI and Web 3.0.

Your data is precious. That’s why everybody wants it. Advertising companies use it to show pop-up ads, while hackers and scammers use it bankrupt you. Information is stolen and sold for mere dollars on the dark web.

If a VPN makes a difference in your life and gets you information faster. Maybe you should use one.