What is a VPN and How it Works in a Nutshell

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VPN was introduced into the world around the late 90s. Where it directly acquired quite a bit of attention and utilized by various companies, universities, and other organizations to increase and ensure their security and privacy. Yet, in recent years the VPN services have become more commercialized and available for the daily, average user. 

Data gathering by marketing companies, governments and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) increased the general amount of people concerned about their privacy. People slowly started realizing that their data is collected and that promises of corporations are simply empty. Internet Users understood that their data should remain private, not manipulated, sold or exchanged by third parties that most have never heard of. 

Day by day data theft becomes more common than ever before, regular users remain using services various companies and organizations provide, creating habits and daily practices, forgetting that digital thieves are waiting behind every corner. Certainly whenever we speak about public networks that are simply, stupidly unsafe like wifi connections at hotels, cafes or airports. All it takes is to connect to one of those networks and start performing your daily tasks like wiring money, accessing private emails, health records and so on. At the end of the day, you find yourself hacked, losing your identity and money.

Luckily, a VPN encrypts all of your data as it travels through the provider’s server, therefore even if your ISP at that moment is a random hacker that knows something is being transferred at any given time, precisely what it is or wherefrom it originates – will simply be indecipherable to him. This way you can certainly enjoy a higher degree of security and anonymity.

VPN offers quite a bit of feature, but we should address them correctly. VPN is not just a reaction to the slight doom and gloom of the modern internet. It can be used for various use-cases, for example, if you are based in Europe, you can jump on an American server to boost your Netflix experience and enjoy local online entertainment that is usually geographically restricted.

A VPN will also allow you to shop more intelligently by hiding your IP address as prices for many goods and services are determined by location.  Every device that connects to the internet is assigned an IP address, among other things, this allows websites to hone in on your devices’ location. Using a VPN replaces your IP address with one of its own servers in any country you wish, that the provider has servers in. From that point on any website, you visit will see you as located in that country.

The beauty while using VPN allows us also to save some bucks while allowing us to shop more intelligently by hiding our IP address since we already know that prices for many goods and services tend to be determined by location. The devices that connect to the internet are assigned with IP addresses among other things, which allows websites to hone in your devices’ location. By using VPN you replace your IP address with one of its own servers practically in any country that you wish. From that point onwards, you have the world in front of your feet, and now in the virtual environment, you have been promoted to the citizen of the world.

This short article is really just the bare bones of how VPNs work and the benefits they provide. We hope to soon bring you a much more detailed and more technical analysis of what a VPN is and how it functions, in the meantime, you can also read this beginner’s guide.

For the time being, however, we’d like to share an infographic we made summarizing the above, robots and everything. We think it’s pretty awesome, hope you enjoy it and find it helpful.

With this short introduction, we wanted to emphasize the power of the VPN. It has an entire range of functions as well as an enormous range of application cases. Soon enough another article with more information about the use cases and providers will be released.

We are sure, you will enjoy it to the fullest. But now, check our own VPN: Proxy-Cheap.com & VPN-Cheap.com

Have a nice day, modern cyber-ninja.

Augustas Frost

Support Manager

Augustas Frost is a valued contributor at Proxy-Cheap, specializing in proxy-related content. With a knack for simplifying complex topics, he's your go-to source for understanding the world of proxies.
Outside his work, Augustas explores the latest tech gadgets and embarking on hiking adventures.

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