Working of VPN

VPN also known as a Virtual Private Network, this is used to establish a secure connection over the internet. By using the VPN we can surf over the web anonymously and our data will travel in encrypted form so that our data is not intercepted by other people.

Why we use a VPN?

Let us consider a situation, you are somewhere in a public place and you are connected to public Wi-Fi, Imagine you are entering a website and you want to enter sensitive data like your username and password, If any hacker connected to that public Wi-Fi then he can intercept all data what you are entering since you and the hacker are connected to the same Wi-Fi.

So here if we use a VPN, our connection becomes private and the hacker will not be able to get our data since it will be in the encrypted form.

How does a VPN work?

Usually, the working flow of connecting to a web application is:

In the browser we will enter the domain name --- Using the DNS this domain name converts into an IP address --- It goes to ISP --- It goes to that particular server --- and returns the request to the web browser and we can view the website ( For more in detail visit my previous blog How web applications load?)

Now refer to the below diagram

Here VPN client is nothing but a software application which helps us to connect to a VPN server.

1 .We will be opening a VPN Client.

2.   In there we will be trying to select the VPN server which are available according to the geolocation.

3.   After choosing one of the VPN servers from one of the locations the VPN server IP address will be associated to you and you can see that IP address in your VPN client application.

4.   Now with that IP address the request will be forwarded to the ISP

5.   From that ISP it forwards to the VPN server

6.   From that VPN server it goes to the Internet and gets the searched content of yours.

After getting the content it gives it to the VPN server from there to the ISP and from there to your browser.

Here your ISP will know that you are using the VPN but It can’t intercept the data.

In this process, the client and server will exchange the encryption keys so that only the client and server will be able to see the data.

 

Even though you are using a VPN some VPN providers store the logs of the traffic which is not good. You have so many VPN providers who have a ‘No Log Policy’ you can use those for more anonymity.

In order to understand this more clearly, let us take an example from our past, In older days if a king wanted to go to an important place from his palace, without being noticed by the public, he cannot use the public way where all people are roaming instead of that the King creates a secret underground tunnel between his palace and that important place, which he can only access that tunnel.

Here the same concept is applied to VPN.

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