When you consider the sensitive data that could be exposed in this way (for example, time spent on a divorce lawyer’s website, or a series of visits to substance abuse counselling sites), it’s a little scary! For example, they may not be able to see the particulars of your Google searches or your confidential banking details, but they can tell that you performed a Google search, and that you visited the Wells Fargo website. The biggest one is that ISPs and network owners can still see a record of your browsing activity, even if they can’t see the data that you’re sending and receiving. And privacy, because no one else knows what you’re doing, or where in the world you really are … just that you’re using a VPN server with a certain IP address.īut despite the security features of HTTPS, it has some limitations. Security, because your data and metadata is encrypted and snoop-proof. The end result is improved security and privacy. That means they can’t use the IP address to determine your true location, or associate the IP address with you personally. They can see that traffic is coming in to their servers, and they can tell that it’s coming from an IP address owned by a VPN company - but they don’t know where the data is actually originating from. Similarly, the websites you visit are also going to be in the dark. In other words, they can’t see what sites you’re visiting.
Other than firing up your VPN and picking a VPN server location when you go online, you just do what you normally would with Safari, Chrome, or Firefox, or with any other apps that require a network connection.īut from the perspective of anyone observing your network traffic, the VPN changes everything! Now, the only thing that they know is that you’re communicating with a VPN server - but they have no idea of where that server is sending your data. Let’s take a moment to consider what that means.įrom your perspective, the experience of using the Internet with a VPN feels pretty much exactly the same. The VPN server takes your data and relays it on to its true destination, and repeats the process in reverse when the site you’re visiting sends you data. This is already an improvement over sending your data “in the clear” on a public network.īut then - and this is where the real privacy protections of the VPN come from - your data is sent to a server owned by the VPN, instead of directly to the website or service you’re trying to communicate with.
When you use a VPN, the VPN software installed on your computer encrypts all of the data before it ever leaves your machine.
How does a VPN work? The details are complex, but the basic concept is actually pretty simple.
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