How does a VPN work?
Follow one request from your device to a website and see what your broadband provider, VPN service and the website can each see.
The journey from your phone to a website
Imagine opening a newspaper website on a café network. Ordinarily, your device uses the café’s internet connection to reach the publisher. Switch on a device-wide VPN and the app creates an encrypted connection to the VPN company’s server. Traffic covered by the app travels through that connection first. The server then forwards it towards the publisher.
From the newspaper’s point of view, that request arrived from the VPN server’s public IP address. The café can see a connection to the VPN and how much data passes through it. With the tunnel working as intended, the café has less information about the individual destinations inside it.
Where encryption starts and ends
The VPN layer ends at the VPN server. A website using HTTPS has another layer of encryption between your browser and the site. That matters because you still want the contents of a form, a password or a message kept private after traffic leaves the VPN.
Look for the correct website address as well as HTTPS. A phishing site can have its own encrypted connection. If a browser warns you about a certificate, stop and check the address before entering details.
Decide what you need it for
A personal VPN can help keep destinations private on a shared network. An employer’s VPN usually has a different purpose, giving authorised staff a way into internal services. Ask your IT team before changing network settings on a work device.
An account you sign in to can still recognise you. A browser extension may cover only one browser, and a device app can exclude particular apps if split tunnelling is enabled. Check what your chosen app covers before relying on it.
Further reading
- Electronic Frontier Foundation’s guide to choosing a VPN
- Mozilla’s explanation of VPN connections
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