The infamous acronym

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, a tool that helps you stay secure and anonymous online. Think of it as a secret tunnel that your internet traffic goes through, hiding your actual location and encrypting your data.

So, why would you want to use a VPN? To protect your privacy, for instance. Did you know that your ISP can see everything you do online if you are not using a VPN? The websites you visit, how long you stay on each, and everything you download. Doesn’t that creep you out? If you are on a VPN, your ISP knows you’re connected to a given node in the internet (your VPN’s server) and nothing else.

Another cool thing about VPNs is that they can help you access content that might be restricted in your country. Netflix is the most famous example. Netflix US has the best catalog, but only for US users. So, how do you get a piece of that? A VPN can give you a US IP address. It’s as simple as that, and Netflix gives you the same service as if you were physically there.

And then we have public Wi-Fi networks. They are cool, convenient, free… and very risky. These networks rarely encrypt connections, so any bystander can potentially monitor and read any user’s traffic. If, on the other hand, you are having your data stream encrypted with a VPN, the snoopers will see nothing but white noise.

So how does a VPN work, we hear you ask? It creates a secure, encrypted connection between your device and the VPN server. We call that a “VPN tunnel.” All your data streams go through the VPN tunnel from your device to the VPN server. The server then unencrypts it and sends it to the place you wanted it to go to in the first place (Google, for instance), but Google will think you are using your server’s IP address.

A Premium VPN is a powerful tool to protect your protection. If you are interested in learning all about VPNs and privacy protection, In that case, we suggest you purchase and read “The VPN Imperative.“