What vpn looks like. What is a VPN connection for?

If you are alive, have accessed the Internet in 2017 and do not live on a desert island, then you have probably heard the term "VPN" more than once or twice. If you still do not know what it is, why it is needed and how it improves life (and the quality of work on the Internet in particular), then we, the team of the vpnMentor website, will be happy to conduct an educational program for you. Here we go?

What is VPN?

VPN (from the English Virtual Private Network - virtual private network) is a special technology for creating a secure network connection in a public (the same Internet) or private network. Everyone and everyone, from large companies to government agencies, use this technology to enable remote users to securely connect to their infrastructure.

On the Internet, you can find literally dozens of VPN services that can connect you to the network safely and securely for $ 5- $ 10 per month. This will allow you to securely encrypt your personal data and everything you do on the Internet. Additionally, most operating systems have supported VPN connections for a long time, and there are (and / or free versions of paid VPNs) as well.

What is a VPN service for?

Public networks have become too dangerous for the average user - hackers, attacks and sniffers are everywhere trying to steal your data. So why eat a cactus and cry (read, keep using public networks and hopefully) when you can be smart and use a VPN?

VPN technologies were originally designed to enable corporate employees to connect to corporate LANs from their homes. Nowadays, VPN connections are used mainly in cases where people want to hide their Internet activity from the prying eyes of strangers, thereby ensuring their online privacy and bypassing blocking access to content (both local and national). Other uses for VPNs include protecting against hackers when working on public WiFi networks and bypassing geo-blocking sites (to access content available only in certain regions).

How does a VPN work?

A firewall protects the data on your computer, and a VPN protects your data online. Technically speaking, a VPN is a Wide Area Network (WAN) that offers the same level of security and functionality as a private network. However, there are two types of VPN connections: remote access (the computer connects to the network) and network-to-network.

On a network without a VPN, you connect to your ISP's server, which in turn connects you to the site you want. This means that all your Internet traffic goes through the provider's servers, and the provider, accordingly, can monitor your traffic.

When you connect through a VPN server, your traffic goes there through an encrypted "tunnel". This means that only you and the VPN server can access your traffic. However, it's worth noting that there is a definite difference between privacy and anonymity. Using a VPN does not make you anonymous because your VPN knows who you are and can view your online activity. A VPN, on the other hand, gives you privacy when you're online — in other words, your ISP, teacher, principal, or even your government will no longer be able to spy on you. To make sure a VPN can actually protect you, choosing is critical. And this is logical, because if a VPN service keeps logs of user actions, then the authorities can always require you to transfer this data to them, and in this case your data will no longer be just yours.

However, even if the service of your choice does not keep logs, it can still (if necessary) track your online activities in real time - for example, to fix technical problems. And while most "no-log" VPNs promise not to track your activity in real time yet, in most countries the law allows the relevant authorities to order a VPN service to start logging a specific user without notifying him about it. However, there is no reason for concern in this ... well, only if you are not hiding from the law enforcement agencies looking for you.

When choosing a VPN service, it is equally important to choose a service that provides its users with the ability to use shared IP addresses (in other words, when many users are using the same one at the same time). In this case, it will be infinitely more difficult for any third parties to determine that it was you who performed this or that action on the network, and not someone else.

How to work with VPN on mobile devices?

VPN is fully supported on both iOS and Android. VPN can also protect you while torrenting. Alas, the mobile applications that you install on your phone have access not only to your IP address, through which they can access the history of all your online activities, but also to your GPS coordinates, contact list, App Store ID and not only. These applications send the collected data to the servers of their companies, which nullifies the benefits of using a VPN connection.

And therefore, to take full advantage of the benefits of connecting to a VPN from a mobile device, you need to access sites only through open source browsers with support for private modes (for example, through Firefox), and not through special "proprietary" applications.

If you want to know more about using a VPN on your mobile device, check out our lists and.

Advantages and disadvantages

To help you understand the pros and cons of using a VPN, I have prepared a table in which I wrote out the main pros and cons of using this technology (* spoilers-spoilers *: according to the author, the pros outweigh the cons, but the decision is yours).

Legal aspects

Using VPNs is rarely illegal in and of itself (content that you try to access using a VPN may well be illegal). This is true even in countries that block access to VPN services (China, Syria, Iran). However, all this does not prevent some sites from blocking VPN services.

However, in July 2016, the use of a VPN service in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was considered illegal. Violators faced imprisonment and a fine ranging from AED 500,000 to AED 2,000,000 (US $ 136,130 - US $ 544,521). In other words, if you are going to visit the UAE, then it makes sense to use your sanity and only visit white-listed sites.

As for VPN access blocking at your school or work, here's what to consider: if you get caught (in private WiFi networks and when connecting like a LAN, there is always a small chance), you can be punished accordingly. How exactly? For example, subject to disciplinary measures (fines, suspension from employment, dismissal). The case may even be referred to the police! In general, it is worth considering in advance whether the game is worth the candle.

Beginning of work

The good news is, there are tons of VPNs out there that would love to see you as their client.

Bad news: you can easily and simply get confused in all the variety of options offered.

Making any decision, you need to carefully study the issue.

Visit our article on, read reviews on the Internet, read the recommendations, study your options and only then make a decision.

Then ask yourself these 10 questions:

1. How much will I pay for this? Different services have different prices, but usually everything fits into the range from $ 5 to $ 10 per month. There are also free options, which are described in more detail in the article about.
2. What is this serviceprivacy policy? We touched on this earlier, you need to make sure the VPN is protecting you and your data.
3. How good are the technical and security measures of the service? Will he be able to effectively resist hackers and third parties who decide to access my data?
4. Is the distance between VPN servers great? and the server I want to visit? This is an important point, because the speed of your network activity is decided here. Other factors that affect connection speed include the power of the server itself, the bandwidth, and the number of people accessing the server at the same time.
5. How many servers does the service have and where are they located? If you need to visit different sites located on servers from different countries, you need to find a VPN service with a large number of server locations and servers available - this will greatly increase your chances of a successful connection.
6. How many devices can I use at the same time? VPN services support almost all kinds of computers, including desktops, laptops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Some services will only allow you to connect one device to their servers at a time, while others will allow you to connect multiple devices at once.
7. How well does the customer support for this service work? After reading

Imagine a scene from an action movie in which a villain escapes from a crime scene on a highway in a sports car. A police helicopter pursues him. The car enters a tunnel with several exits. The helicopter pilot does not know from which exit the car will appear, and the villain escapes from the pursuit.

VPN is a tunnel that connects many roads. No one outside knows where the cars entering it will end up. No one outside knows what is happening in the tunnel.

You've probably heard of VPN more than once. On Lifehacker about this thing too. VPNs are most often recommended because the network can be used to access geo-blocked content and generally improve Internet security. The truth is that going online through a VPN can be just as dangerous as going directly.

How does a VPN work?

Most likely you have a Wi-Fi router at home. Devices connected to it can exchange data even without the Internet. It turns out that you have your own private network, but in order to connect to it, you need to be physically within range of the router signal.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a virtual private network. It works over the Internet, so you can connect to it from anywhere.

For example, the company you work for might use a VPN for telecommuters. They use a VPN to connect to their work network. At the same time, their computers, smartphones or tablets are virtually transferred to the office and connected to the network from the inside. To enter a virtual private network, you need to know the VPN server address, username and password.

Using a VPN is pretty straightforward. Typically, a company sets up a VPN server somewhere on a local computer, server or data center, and connects to it using a VPN client on the user's device.

Built-in VPN clients are now available on all current operating systems, including Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux.

VPN connection between client and server is usually encrypted.

So VPN is good?

Yes, if you are a business owner and want to secure your corporate data and services. By letting employees enter the work environment only through VPN and by account, you will always know who and what was doing and is doing.

Moreover, the VPN owner can monitor and control generally all traffic that goes between the server and the user.

Do employees sit on VKontakte a lot? You can close access to this service. Gennady Andreevich spends half his day on sites with memes? All his activity is automatically recorded in the logs and will become an iron argument for dismissal.

Why VPN then?

VPN allows you to bypass geographic and legal restrictions.

For example, you are in Russia and you want. With regret, you learn that this service is not available from the Russian Federation. You can only use it by going online through the VPN server of the country in which Spotify operates.

In some countries, there is Internet censorship that restricts access to certain sites. You want to go to some resource, but it is blocked in Russia. You can open a site only by going online through the VPN server of a country in which it is not blocked, that is, from almost any other than the Russian Federation.

VPN is a useful and necessary technology that copes well with a certain range of tasks. But the security of personal data still depends on the VPN service provider's integrity, common sense, attentiveness, and Internet literacy.

VPN (Virtual Private Networks) - virtual private networks. VPN is one such technology, about which it is not known where they came from. However, when such technologies take root in a company's infrastructure, everyone is surprised how they used to do without them. VPNs allow you to use the Internet as your own private network. Thus, the spread of VPN is associated with the development of the Internet. The technology itself uses the TCP / IP protocol stack as a basis for its operation.

In order to understand what a VPN is, you need to understand two concepts: encryption and virtuality.

Encryption is a reversible transformation of a message to hide it from unauthorized persons.

Virtuality is an object or state that does not really exist, but can arise under certain conditions.

Encryption converts a message from one kind, for example, "Hello!" in another form "* & 878hJf7 * & 8723". On the other hand, there is also an inverse transformation, which is called decryption, i.e. converting the message "* & 878hJf7 * & 8723" to the message "Hello!" The VPN security approach assumes that no one other than the intended recipient can perform the decryption.

The concept of "virtuality" refers to the "as if" situation. For example, a situation where you access a remote computer using a tablet. In this case, the tablet simulates the operation of a remote computer.

VPN has a precise definition:

VPN is an encrypted or encapsulated communication process that securely transfers data from one point to another; the security of this data is ensured by strong encryption technology and the transmitted data passes through an open, unsecured, routed network.

Since VPN is encrypted, the communication between nodes, data is transmitted securely and their integrity is guaranteed. Data travels through an open, unsecured, routed network, so it can have multiple paths to its final destination when transmitted over a shared line. Thus, a VPN can be thought of as the process of sending encrypted data from one point to another over the Internet.

Encapsulation is the process of placing a data packet inside an IP packet. Encapsulation allows you to add an extra layer of protection. Encapsulation allows you to create VPN tunnels and transfer data over a network with other protocols. The most common way to create VPN tunnels is to encapsulate network protocols (IP, IPX, AppleTalk, etc.) in PPP and then encapsulate the resulting packets in tunneling protocols. The latter is most often the IP protocol, although, in rare cases, ATM and Frame Relay protocols can also be used. This approach is called Layer 2 Tunneling, since the passenger is the Layer 2 Protocol (PPP) itself.

An alternative approach to encapsulating network protocol packets directly into a tunneling protocol (such as VTP) is called Layer 3 tunneling.

By purpose, VPNs are divided into three types:

1. Intranet is used to unite several distributed branches of one organization into a single secure network, exchanging data over open communication channels.
2. Extranet - Used for networks to which external users (such as customers or clients) connect. Due to the fact that the level of trust in such users is lower than in the company's employees, special protection is required to prevent external users from accessing especially valuable information.
3. Remote access - created between central corporate offices and remote mobile users. With encryption software loaded on the remote laptop, the remote user establishes an encrypted tunnel with the VPN device at the corporate headquarters.

There are many options for implementing a VPN. When deciding how to implement a VPN, you need to consider the performance factors of VPN systems. For example, if a router is running at the limit of its processor power, then adding more VPN tunnels and applying encryption / decryption can cause the entire network to stop working as the router will not be able to handle normal traffic.

VPN implementation options:

1. VPN based on firewalls. A firewall (firewall) is a software or hardware-software element of a computer network that monitors and filters network traffic passing through it in accordance with specified rules. Most vendors' firewalls today support tunneling and data encryption. All such products are based on the fact that traffic passing through the firewall is encrypted.
2. VPN based on routers. Since all information coming from the local network first goes to the router, it is advisable to assign encryption functions to it. Cisco routers, for example, support L2TP, IPSec encryption protocols. In addition to simple encryption, they also support other VPN features such as connection authentication and key exchange.
3. VPN based on a network operating system. On Linux, VPN connections are usually made using technologies such as OpenVPN, OpenConnect, or NetworkManager. Windows VPN uses PPTP, which is integrated into Windows.

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Within the framework of this article, I will tell you what is VPN and why is it needed.

If earlier the Internet was mainly used only to open a site, find out useful information and perhaps even leave a comment, today, in principle, nothing has changed. People still open their browser to read interesting and necessary things. Nevertheless, there is still a difference.

It consists in the abundance of personal and important information passing through the Internet. Therefore, many technologies have been invented to protect them. One of them is VPN, which will be discussed further.

Note: The article is written in simple words and does not contain many technical aspects, as it is intended for initial acquaintance.

What is VPN

VPN(Virtual Private Network) is an approach that allows you to organize a private network on top of the main network. In simple words, for example, create a shared private network of computers located in different parts of the world. A more real-life example is the ability from anywhere from a laptop to control a computer at home as if you never left.

It is worth noting that most often we are talking about a secure connection, since for the most part using a VPN involves transferring data over the Internet. Continuing the above example, in order to connect from a laptop via a public WiFi network to their computer in order to download important documents or just look at albums with photos, the attackers could not see them.

However, VPN can be applied in very specific ways. For example, as I already told in the article how to bypass site blocking, an encrypted connection is created with a certain remote VPN server and this server already sends requests to websites. In this case, your IP address and other technical points remain hidden from the site.

Another important point is that when using a secure VPN, traffic will be encrypted even for the provider.

How it works with a secure VPN

First of all, it is worth knowing that there are three types of connections:

1. Node-node... It is a connection between two separate computers (nodes) through a secure VPN.

2. Host-network... In this case, we are talking about the fact that on the one hand there is one computer, and on the other hand there is a certain local network.

3. Network-network... This is the union of two local networks into one.

If you are a regular user who does not know anything about the network, then it may seem that these types are significantly different. Of course, there are technical nuances, but for a simple understanding, all these networks can be reduced to one "Node-node". The fact is that for the case of a network, just a computer or a router through which access to the Internet is provided, also organizes and carries out communication through a VPN. That is, computers inside the network may not even know about the presence of any VPN.

Now, let's look at how everything happens when using a VPN (in general):

1. On computers, special programs are installed and configured to create a VPN tunnel (in simple words, VPN connections). If this is a router, then many specialized models initially support such connections.

Note: It is worth knowing that programs are of three types "client" (only connecting to other computers), "server" (provides and organizes access for VPN clients) and "mixed" (can both create connections and receive them).

2. When a computer wants to contact another computer, it contacts the VPN server to establish an encrypted tunnel. As part of this step, the client and server exchange keys (in encrypted form), if necessary.

4. The VPN server decrypts the original data and acts on the basis of it.

5. The server also encrypts its response and transmits it to the client.

6. The client decrypts the response.

As you can see, the basic idea of ​​VPN is very simple - they exchanged keys, and then the client and server transmit encrypted messages to each other. However, it is a huge plus. In addition to the IP address of the VPN client and server, all data is transmitted in a closed form, that is, the security of the transfer of personal and important information is ensured.

Why you need a VPN

VPN is commonly used for the following two purposes:

1. Secure data transmission on the Internet... Data is initially transmitted in encrypted form, so even if an attacker can intercept it, he cannot do anything with it. A well-known example is HTTPS with SSL or TLS for accessing websites. In this case, a secure VPN tunnel is established between the site and the computer that opened it, so the data is safe at the time of transfer.

Note: HTTPS implies that data is encrypted with SSL or TLS and then sent in a standard way, just like with HTTP.

2. Connecting computers from different parts of the world into one network... Agree that it can be very useful to have access to computers located hundreds of kilometers away at any time. For example, so as not to carry everything you need with you. If you need photos or some documents, you go to the Internet, connect to your home computer and download them in safe mode. Or, for example, if you have two networks, then by connecting them using routers (creating a VPN tunnel), you can access any computer without any additional steps.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a virtual private network.

In general terms, a VPN is a completely secure channel that connects your device with Internet access to any other on the global network. If it's even simpler, you can imagine it more figuratively: without connecting to a VPN service, your computer (laptop, phone, TV or any other device) when it goes online is like a private house not fenced in. At any time, everyone can intentionally or accidentally break trees, trample the beds in your garden. Using a VPN, your home turns into an impregnable fortress, which will be simply impossible to break.

How it works?

The principle of VPN operation is simple and transparent for the end user. At the moment you go online, a virtual "tunnel" is created between your device and the rest of the Internet, blocking any attempts from the outside to get inside. VPN operation remains completely transparent and invisible for you. Your personal, business correspondence, Skype or telephone conversations cannot in any way be intercepted or overheard. All your data is encrypted using a special encryption algorithm, which is almost impossible to crack.

In addition to protection against intrusion from the outside, VPN provides the opportunity to virtually temporarily visit any country in the world and use the network resources of these countries, watch TV channels that were previously unavailable. The VPN will replace your IP address with any other one. To do this, you just need to select a country from the proposed list, for example the Netherlands and all sites and services that you will go to will automatically “think” that you are in this particular country.

Why not anonymizer or proxy?

The question arises: why not just use some kind of anonymizer or proxy server on the network, because they also spoof the IP address? Yes, everything is very simple - none of the above services provides protection, you are still "visible" to attackers, and therefore all the data that you exchange on the Internet. And, in addition, working with proxy servers requires a certain skill from you to set precise settings. VPN operates according to the following principle: "Connect and work", it does not require any additional settings. The whole connection process takes a couple of minutes and is very simple.

About free VPNs

When choosing, keep in mind that free VPNs almost always have restrictions on the amount of traffic and data transfer rate. This means that there may be a situation where you simply cannot continue to use the free VPN. Do not forget that free VPNs are not always stable and are often overloaded. Even if your limit is not exceeded, the data transfer can be delayed for a long period of time due to the high load on the VPN server. Paid VPN services are distinguished by high bandwidth, no restrictions on both traffic and speed, and the security level is higher than that of free ones.

Where to begin?

Most VPN services provide an opportunity to test the quality for free for a short period. The testing period can be from several hours to several days. During testing, you usually get full access to all the functionalities of the VPN service. Our service makes it possible to find such VPN services by the link: