What is a VPN?

What is a VPN?

The literal meaning of the acronym—Virtual Private Network—captures the essence of the service. It is software designed to protect a user’s anonymity online, raise security and bypass blocks.

A VPN user is extremely hard to track. Accordingly, it is difficult to determine which sites you visit, what actions you take online, and what information you leave on third-party resources.

How does a VPN work?

After you download a VPN app for iOS or Android, pay for a subscription and launch it, your phone or computer connects through an encrypted virtual tunnel to a remote server that could be located anywhere. You then access the internet through that server—at least, that is what everyone else sees. Blocked sites and would-be watchers (authorities, hackers, etc.) will treat you as a foreign user.

Your provider will see not your “real” IP address, but the address of the servers that act as VPN entry points. It is as if you were walking along a motorway and then got into a passing car. You are now concealed from prying eyes—everyone around sees only the vehicle you are in.

What are the benefits of a VPN?

The chief advantage of a VPN is greatly enhanced privacy. Services, programs, apps and websites that track online behaviour cannot watch a VPN user. In addition, a VPN encrypts traffic, preventing an internet provider, a mobile operator or other users (including hackers hunting for confidential information) from accessing your data. This is why security specialists recommend using a VPN at least when connecting to public Wi‑Fi, where the data of someone performing financial transactions or entering an email password are most vulnerable.

There are other benefits, such as masking your location. Anyone trying to determine it will see the VPN server’s location. While in Russia, for example, you may appear to everyone as a user in the Netherlands.

Is it legal to use a VPN in Russia?

Russian authorities understand that VPNs allow users to circumvent restrictions and have tried to impede their operation. In 2017 a law was adopted prohibiting the use of VPNs to bypass blocks. It is envisaged that VPN services can remain within Russia’s legal framework only if they connect to the registry of banned sites and block that content for Russian users. Plainly, that partly undermines the point of a VPN, so most services ignored the requirement. As a result, some VPNs were blocked by Roskomnadzor.

Nevertheless, if a paid-for VPN works, the authorities will not have claims against you as a user.

What are the downsides of a VPN?

A VPN is also a team of developers behind a specific software solution. That brings a human-factor risk: an employee could sell user information. Free VPNs are often accused of trading in their clients’ data. For example, a year ago confidential data on 21m users of an Android VPN were offered for sale on a hacker forum.

There are also several purely technical drawbacks—not critical for those who take information security seriously. First, a VPN can slow your internet connection somewhat. Second, like any app, it consumes a phone’s or laptop’s battery. Third, using a good service costs money: subscriptions start from $4 a month.

How to choose a VPN service?

Here is what to consider when choosing a service:

• whether the website has a privacy policy;
• how well your data are protected—ideally, with 256‑bit encryption;
• whether customer support is available;
• whether you can connect several devices at once;
• the diversity of server locations;
• whether bandwidth is capped.

It is worth spending a few minutes reading professional forums to see what is said about the service and whether users are satisfied with the VPN on offer.