The most common benefits VPNs offer revolves around privacy and security. Although some VPN services also offer additional features like password managers or malware and ad-blocking. Better online security : VPN services use strong encryption protocols that keep outsiders from hopping on the connection and stealing information or monitoring what a person does online. Multiple users then use that same IP address, making it impossible to link that IP address to one person.
Anonymity : Many journalists, dissidents, and people living under dictatorship use VPNs to keep using the internet freely without fear of retribution. Access to geo-blocked websites : Sometimes, websites and services are only available in specific locations.
Some countries also keep their citizens from accessing certain websites by blocking them. VPNs overcome this issue by letting their users choose their IP address and thus their location. Different VPNs use different encryption processes, but generally function in three steps:. There are many different types of VPNs, but you should definitely be familiar with the three main types:.
Often not all employees of a company have access to a company laptop they can use to work from home. During the corona crisis in Spring , many companies faced the problem of not having enough equipment for their employees. In such cases, use of a private device PC, laptop, tablet, mobile phone is often resorted to.
In this case, companies fall back on an SSL-VPN solution, which is usually implemented via a corresponding hardware box. The prerequisite is usually an HTMLcapable browser, which is used to call up the company's login page. HTML-5 capable browsers are available for virtually any operating system. Access is guarded with a username and password. A site-to-site VPN is essentially a private network designed to hide private intranets and allow users of these secure networks to access each other's resources.
Site-to-site VPNs are also useful if you have two separate intranets between which you want to send files without users from one intranet explicitly accessing the other. Site-to-site VPNs are mainly used in large companies. However, they are the most effective way to ensure communication within and between large departments. Connecting via a VPN client can be imagined as if you were connecting your home PC to the company with an extension cable. Employees can dial into the company network from their home office via the secure connection and act as if they were sitting in the office.
However, a VPN client must first be installed and configured on the computer. This essentially shortens the tunnel phase of the VPN journey.
Instead of using the VPN to create an encryption tunnel to disguise the existing internet connection, the VPN can automatically encrypt the data before it is made available to the user. It prevents third parties from accessing and compromising the network connection and encrypts data all the way to the provider.
It also prevents ISPs from accessing data that, for whatever reason, remains unencrypted and bypasses any restrictions on the user's internet access for instance, if the government of that country restricts internet access. The advantage of this type of VPN access is greater efficiency and universal access to company resources. For example, customers of the company cannot even tell whether the employee is at work in the company or in their home office.
Before installing a VPN, it is important to be familiar with the different implementation methods:. Software must be installed for standalone VPN clients. This software is configured to meet the requirements of the endpoint. When setting up the VPN, the endpoint executes the VPN link and connects to the other endpoint, creating the encryption tunnel.
In companies, this step usually requires the entry of a password issued by the company or the installation of an appropriate certificate. By using a password or certificate, the firewall can recognize that this is an authorized connection. Some browsers, including Opera, even have their own integrated VPN extensions. Extensions make it easier for users to quickly switch and configure their VPN while surfing the internet.
However, the VPN connection is only valid for information that is shared in this browser. Using other browsers and other internet uses outside the browser e. While browser extensions are not quite as comprehensive as VPN clients, they may be an appropriate option for occasional internet users who want an extra layer of internet security.
However, they have proven to be more susceptible to breaches. Users are also advised to choose a reputable extension, as data harvesters may attempt to use fake VPN extensions. Data harvesting is the collection of personal data, such as what marketing strategists do to create a personal profile of you.
Advertising content is then personally tailored to you. If multiple devices are connected to the same internet connection, it may be easier to implement the VPN directly on the router than to install a separate VPN on each device. A router VPN is especially useful if you want to protect devices with an internet connection that are not easy to configure, such as smart TVs. They can even help you access geographically restricted content through your home entertainment systems.
A router VPN is easy to install, always provides security and privacy, and prevents your network from being compromised when insecure devices log on. However, it may be more difficult to manage if your router does not have its own user interface.
This can lead to incoming connections being blocked. A company VPN is a custom solution that requires personalized setup and technical support. In this article, we will seek to answer the question, what is VPN?
As technology evolved, so have the capabilities of hackers, agencies, and companies seeking to capitalize on personal information, which can be collected online. Today, many have become unwilling victims of identity theft and credit card fraud, the two worse things that could happen to an Internet user.
This is also the very reason why new technologies have been developed to provide protection to counter these threats. So what is VPN? To provide a short definition of VPN virtual private network software, one must know about its origins. The solution was developed with the goal of providing protection against online threats by giving Internet users the gift of anonymity.
This new breed of software has become the most effective deterrent to cybercrime, which seems to be the primary purpose of VPN. Currently, a great number of individuals and companies have been using such a platform to safeguard their online activities. This growth is seen to be fueled by the growth of the cyber security sector, an increase in the number of security proliferation, the growth of industries and the increase in the use of mobile devices.
However, the high cost of deployment and lack of technical skills could hamper this growth. So what does VPN do? Basically, a VPN is a group of computers or networks, which are connected over the Internet. For businesses, VPN services serve as avenues for getting access to networks when they are not physically on the same network. Such a service can also be used to encrypt communications over public networks.
To give you an idea as to how VPN works, the software allows your computer to basically exchange keys with a remote server, through which all data traffic is encrypted and kept secure, safe from prying eyes.
It lets you browse the Internet without the worry of being tracked, monitored and identified without permission. A VPN also helps in accessing blocked sites and in circumventing censorship.
So why use VPN? Online privacy and security is the most sensible reason for one to adopt a VPN software. A key feature of a VPN is its ability to hide your real IP address by providing you with a temporary one.
This makes all your online activities a secret, making it impossible to trace your location. This essentially answers the question, what is VPN?. VPN software has a lot to offer in terms of online privacy and security. The following are among the most common benefits of VPN:.
These benefits outline the multiple advantages of VPN in providing Internet security. How to choose a VPN software? This is the question that keeps popping up in the minds of those thinking about using such a solution. There are a variety of ways by which you can determine what VPN suits you. However, unlike your ISP, good VPNs do not log this information and therefore provide much higher levels of privacy than you normally have when surfing the internet.
Even these, however, will start to log information if subpoenaed or issued a binding court order. No VPN staff are going to risk jail for you! Does this mean VPNs are useless for privacy? Not at all. Such legal moves are highly targeted against individuals of interest, so are not a threat to the privacy of most ordinary VPN users. The Edward Snowden's of this world, however, who require very high levels of true anonymity, should use the Tor Network rather than VPNs to protect their identity.
VPN software is designed to be easy to use, and should "just work" without the need for any additional configuration. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. This is especially true if you have an IPv6 internet connection as many VPN apps struggle to handle the new internet standard correctly. It is therefore always a good idea to check that your VPN is correctly configured to protect you as it is supposed to.
Thanks to the vagaries of the internet, VPN connections sometimes fail. In the normal course of events, when this happens you will remain connected to the internet but without the protection of the VPN. A kill switch protects you against this by preventing connections into and out of your device unless the VPN connection is active. A VPN routes your data an extra leg to a VPN server, which must then spend processing power encrypting and decrypting the data. It is therefore inevitable that using a VPN will slow down your internet connection at least a little.
If you connect to a server near to you which is not overloaded, then you can expect to lose around 10 percent of your base internet speed. However, the Fastest VPNs invest heavily in high-speed servers so you don't have to deal with a slow internet connection.
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