How your VPN works

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and like the deep web, VPNs have democratized internet access and provided security to those who need it most. In addition, they have also removed some of the barriers that service providers put in place based on geography. A famous example of this is the wide use of VPNs to access Netflix content that has not been made available in some geographical locations.

 

Some individuals reside in countries with repressive governments that have control over the internet and what can be accessed over it and thus control what their citizens can access. Others have to contend with governments that collect their personal data or have mass surveillance programs. All of the aforementioned situations can be avoided with the use of a VPN.

Now that the place that VPN technology holds in our highly connected society is obvious, how do they actually work?
To uncover the inner workings of the technology, we will employ the use of an analogy. Think of the internet as a vast network of highways and the cars that use the highways as the information that is exchanged over it. All of these highways have toll gates where information about the cars that use the highway is collected and processed and we can therefore tell how many cars use a specific highway, their destinations, places of origin and such.

Now, all of the information collected at the toll gates would allow the gate keepers AKA the government and other stakeholders like service providers to enact policies and restrictions. Such restrictions for example would be the types of cars that get to use certain highways. The gatekeepers would also have unfettered access to all the data that has been collected.

Still continuing with the analogy, a VPN would then be a separate set of tunnels that run alongside the highways and allow cars to get to their destinations without having to stop at toll gates and give up their information. Since there are no gatekeepers controlling these tunnels, there are no restrictions and/or policies in place and any car an arrive at their destination privately and without any hindrance.

In reality, VPNs provide what are called encryption tunnels and true to the analogy above, provide encrypted information highways that allow individuals to access the internet relatively anonymously. Encryption means that no one can access the information that is exchanged between a VPN user and the server from which they have requested information. The companies that provide VPN services employ the use of VPN servers which allow their customers to access the internet from any location they wish and this is in effect how many of us get around some of the content restrictions that are based on geographical location.

VPNs were traditionally utilized in enterprise settings that had local area networks (LANs). Through VPNs employees are able to securely access resources within a company's LAN and the connection is such that the employees that work remotely are able to access resources as if they are physically located in their company's office building. I have only explored the use of VPNs by non-enterprise entities like you and me.