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VPN connections ensure security in the network. This is what users need to know about virtual, private networks.
Using a VPN is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself online. Journalists use VPN networks for secure communication, for example, and those who do not want Google and Amazon to be constantly informed about their whereabouts will also find happiness with VPN connections. But be careful: the encrypted communication does not offer any additional protection against viruses and Trojans.
What is VPN
VPN stands for “Virtual Private Network”, ie “virtual, private network”. So-called VPN services make it possible to establish protected connections in the network and also to encrypt your own data traffic. Users can imagine the whole thing as a tunnel to a provider through which all data flows. This makes it difficult for third parties to access this data or to follow the trail of a user on the Internet.
Who needs a VPN connection?
Anyone who is on the Internet via a VPN connection hides their real location and receives a different IP address than their actual one. For example, users can pretend to come from another country via VPN. If you want to call up a website, everything runs via the service used, which forwards the data to the user. The visited page does not see its own IP address, but that of the respective server of the provider.
There is also the possibility of secure communication: VPN connections are encrypted and cannot simply be viewed. This is useful, for example, in countries where it is not welcome to talk to journalists and provide them with information.
VPN services also provide security for users who want to dial into a public WLAN network. One of the methods used by criminals is to use such WLAN networks to obtain data from users who use them.
VPN networks are also used in some companies. They should, for example, enable employees from the home office or when traveling to access sensitive company data.
How do I use VPN?
Users dial into a VPN network with the help of VPN clients, i.e. software. There are different technical possibilities: Either you download a client or you use browser-based solutions. There are many VPN sites that offer subscription models that usually only cost a few euros a month. There are also free offers, which, however, often have restrictions – including a limited data volume or advertising.