What is a VPN and How Does it Work? [Video Explainer]

you probably heard of a vpn before it's

even possible you've used one before but

do you know what it does a vpn stands

for virtual private network which

basically means it gives you privacy

online originally vpns were only used in

business settings where big businesses

organizations or governments wanted to

secure their data since people worked

remotely and needed to connect online

businesses needed to create a secure

connection otherwise they were at risk

for hacking or other loss of data

nowadays vpns are used by everyone

specifically because it ensures your

location stays private your data is

encrypted and that you can surf the web

anonymously but how does it work

let's back up for a second to understand

how the internet works when you visit a

site like facebook or twitter you type

in a domain name that domain is

basically a nickname for the website's

ip address an ip address is just like

your home address only it consists of

numbers and not street names since it's

much easier to remember names in a

string of numbers we give websites

domain names and a server translates

them your computer has an ip address too

and so does every device browsing the

internet when you type in the website's

domain name on your browser whether

you're using chrome firefox or even

internet explorer you send your data

into the internet until it reaches a

server that server then translates the

data and sends you back the website you

requested the problem is when you send

that data to the server you're sending

them your ip address and a lot of other

information too this is where hackers

can intercept your information imagine

you're sitting in a coffee shop using

their public wi-fi on your phone and you

want to check your bank account someone

else with the laptop can easily log into

the network and get a hold of your

passwords emails and other information

you might have but if you use a vpn they

won't be able to access that

the websites you visit can also gather

your information but they tend to do it

in order to study their demographic

usually it's not a problem but sometimes

you want to protect your identity and

privacy so how does a vpn protect my

privacy when you send information online

a vpn creates a tunnel that encrypts

your information this way if someone

gets a hold of your data they won't be

able to read it the tunnel also makes it

harder to hack in but don't be fooled it

is still possible just much harder to do

a vpn also adds in an extra server we

spoke about how you send data from your

computer to a server and then that

server pings you back with the website

but with vpn your data goes to their

server first and then it's sent out to

the website this extra step helps in a

lot of ways first it can change your

location a lot of video streaming

websites like netflix and hulu have

strict content depending on your geo

location

let's say you want to watch your

favorite show on netflix but it's not

available in your country you send your

information to one of the vpn servers in

america and then that server sends it to

the netflix website netflix now thinks

you're in america and you can stream

your show without any problems a vpn

tricks them into thinking you're in a

different location because the signal is

coming from a different server clever

right changing your location can also be

helpful when booking a hotel or flight

research has shown that hotels and

flight prices change depending on your

location and a vpn could potentially

save you lots of money but let's get

back to your privacy remember how we

mentioned websites sometimes collect

your data well many times governments

can request this information and use the

listed ip addresses to track your

location but with the vpn their

information only reaches the vpn server

they can't track you back to your

original ip address see how cool that is

many vpns also have a no logs policy

which means they don't record what sites

you visit so if the government requests

a vpn provider for tracking logs your

information won't be there vpns are

really handy when it comes to keeping

your privacy safe on the web by changing

your location encrypting your data and

ensuring your privacy it's no wonder so

many people use them these days now that

you know what a vpn is it's time to go

get one click on the link to see our top

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