The Inner Workings of VPN Technology - Tech-inmotion/VPNTechguy GitHub Wiki

VPN stands for ‘Virtual Private Network’. It means that a mini-network can be created within the realms of the internet connecting multiple devices to share data. The technology is also used to bypass geolocation restrictions and to enhance internet privacy.

For businesses, VPNs are used for remote/offsite workers to connect to the main company network or clouds. Home users use VPNs to connect to sites they do not want their ISP or WiFi router to record. This could be an office worker banned from using Facebook or other social networks who uses the VPN to hide the fact that he or she is accessing websites forbidden –this is not something that is recommended but is a good example of how VPNs are used for privacy.

The second side to VPNs is the security the connection provides. VPNs can use a variety of encryption protocols to create a tunnel through the internet from point A to point B. This tunnel is impenetrable if the right encryption is used. Even the access point used to run the VPN tunnel cannot see the data being sent within the VPN tunnel.

Effectively, the tunnel is created by the software on the user machine. From here private data is used to establish the connection and any device not privy to the encryption keys is locked out. Hacking into a VPN tunnel with strong encryption is pretty much impossible without extremely sophisticated technology used by secret services, and even then, getting into the tunnel is not a given because the connection may not be up long enough for an expert to crack.

If a government agency needs to get into a VPN connection, usually the only way they can is to subpoena the VPN company to survey the server for the suspect making a connection. Even then, the VPN company may not oblige. That’s pretty much an example of just how good the encryption is.

Check out https://allertaprivacy.it for more information.