Everything you need to know about VPNs

It’s impossible to spend an hour or two on YouTube without encountering an ad or a paid promotion for a VPN subscription service like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, or Surfshark. The companies behind these services usually tell you that a VPN is a great way to browse the web safely and privately, let you watch geo-blocked content, bypass censorship, or explore the internet without disclosing your location. Some VPN providers claim that they can help you protect your internet data.

But the reality is that VPNs are only useful for a handful of very specific use cases. A VPN is like a tunnel that connects two digital locations. Originally designed to connect people working from home to the office network or as a way to connect several offices to the same network, VPN use cases have changed in recent years. Many people now use a VPN to browse the web, thinking that this can help to avoid surveillance.

We break down what VPNs do and don’t do, because using a VPN can be as dangerous as not using one.

What is a VPN?

A VPN is a virtual private network that lets you remotely connect to a private network. For instance, your office might be using a VPN for employees who work from home. This way, you can establish a connection with your company’s intranet and use your computer as if it were in the office. You’re virtually in the office, just like when you’re connected to the company’s Wi-Fi network with your laptop.

If you have multiple computers, phones, and tablets at home, you are using a local area network. These devices are all connected to the same Wi-Fi network (or with an Ethernet cable), and you can even transfer photos or movies from one computer to another without using the internet. 

Using a VPN is quite simple. Usually, a company or an individual installs a VPN server on a computer in the office, at home, or in a data center. Then, with the correct credentials, you can connect to this server using a corresponding VPN application running on your device. There are many VPN clients out there for computers, servers, or routers. Windows PCs and Macs, as well as Android devices and iPhones, also come with a basic VPN client in the device’s settings.

Let’s say you’re establishing a VPN connection on your computer. Your computer and the VPN server will start a point-to-point connection and all your network traffic will go through this private tunnel. 

Do I need a VPN?

There are several reasons why you might think you need to use a VPN. You may want to work from home and still access the file servers and internal tools that you regularly use in the office. Maybe you’re living in a country with internet restrictions. It’s also useful if you just want to access a video streaming service that isn’t available in your country.

You may have used a VPN for work, especially when you’re working from home. There are a few advantages in using a VPN for a company. For example, it lets employees access office servers that aren’t connected to the internet, as you’re all connected to the same private network. Back in the days before cloud-hosted Microsoft 365 servers or Google Workspace, many companies were managing their own email and calendar servers. IT services could require you to connect to the company’s VPN first in order to access your emails and calendar events as a way to protect sensitive information.

But office environments aren’t the only use cases for a VPN. For example, if you live outside of the United States, you know that a VPN can save the day when you’re trying to stream a show on Max or access Netflix’s library of anime in Japan. Even if you’re just traveling for work or vacation, many streaming services restrict you from using them abroad.

Some VPN companies provide access to servers located in various major cities around the world so that you can access them as though you were physically there. Once you set up a VPN connection, all of your network traffic goes through that tunnel, which means your streaming service might still see you as a customer located in the United States. In fact, the streaming service is sending data to a U.S.-based server, but all of that network traffic is then funneled through the VPN tunnel to your device on the other side of the world.

Sometimes, the VPN server doesn’t have enough bandwidth to upload the movie through the tunnel in high resolution, and your movie quality will degrade. Sometimes, content companies try to ban entire ranges of IP addresses that VPN servers rely on, rendering the VPN useless.

Why you might not need a VPN

There are a few drawbacks to using a VPN. When you use a VPN connection, all of your network traffic goes through the VPN, including your internet traffic. That means you’re subject to your company’s IT rules, which might prevent you from accessing certain websites. Or your company could even watch and record your internet browsing habits to find a good excuse to fire you later down the road (too much Reddit and YouTube!).

When you use a VPN to avoid censorship or access content in another region, the VPN server at the other end can see all of your network and internet traffic. You’re just moving the risk down the VPN tunnel, and VPN providers are fraught with risk.

Assume that all the free VPN apps that you see in your go-to app stores are free for a reason. These free VPN apps analyze your browsing habits, sell them to advertisers, and inject their own ads on non-secure pages. You should avoid free mobile VPNs at all costs.

When it comes to paid options, some of them promise you internet privacy for a monthly subscription. But look at the privacy policy and terms of service first. Plenty of VPNs log your internet traffic, share information with law enforcement, and more. Read the small print.

And even if the privacy policy looks good, you’ll still have to blindly trust VPN providers as it’s difficult to verify that they actually do what they promise they’re doing. In many cases, a secure home connection with a guest Wi-Fi network that only lets your friends access the internet is better than connecting to some random company’s VPN server. You don’t want to give a stranger your home keys, even if they promise that they won’t go into your house uninvited.

Similarly, you shouldn’t trust a VPN company that doesn’t have a public-facing leadership team, or publicly release detailed security audits about their infrastructure and apps from well-known cybersecurity testers. You also shouldn’t trust VPN comparison sites or influencers, who often have financial incentives to promote one service over another.

Will a VPN make me anonymous on the internet?

Many coffee shops or hotels don’t spend too much time securing their Wi-Fi networks. Just like at home, it means that a user can see another user’s computer on the local network. And if there’s a malicious hacker working from your favorite coffee shop, they could snoop on your unencrypted internet traffic to learn some information about you.

This was a serious issue a few years ago. Back when many websites didn’t use a secure connection on their login pages, hackers could target your bank account’s login and password and empty your wallets.

Avoiding using Wi-Fi at all was the best way to avoid that. But if you really needed to check your email account, you could have used a trustworthy VPN server to prevent snooping — nobody can see what’s happening in the tunnel — from anyone, even on your local network.

Things have changed quite a lot. Now, a vast majority of internet sites and services are delivered to your browser over a secure connection, also known as HTTPS, and end-to-end encryption in your favorite messaging apps make sure that nobody can see your private information, even without a VPN.

All of this leads to today’s false assumptions about VPNs. Simply put: A VPN does not mean that you’ll be more secure on the internet. It simply depends on the VPN server.

If you’re really concerned about your privacy, there are better privacy tools that you can use to better protect your privacy online.

As for encryption, some VPN protocols aren’t as secure as you might think. L2TP with a pre-shared key for authentication can be decrypted, for instance, destroying the concept of the unbreachable tunnel. WireGuard is the gold standard of VPN protocols, as it is based on public and private keys. 

We have an up-to-date guide on how you can set up your own private and encrypted VPN server in 15 minutes. 

Types of VPNs

If you think you need a VPN, start here. There are a few use cases where a VPN might fit your needs.

VPN for working remotely: This would be a perfectly fine use case to have if you access your workplace using a VPN. But make sure you switch off the VPN connection before taking a break, because your company could see how much time you spend on social networks and other non-work services.

VPN for developers: Developers use VPN technology all the time to access remote servers or create a site-to-site VPN connection so that these servers can talk to each other. It’s like bringing different computers to the same room, even if they’re thousands of miles apart.

VPN services and mobile VPN apps: These could be used to access geo-blocked content from abroad. But don’t leave them switched on all the time. If you never feel like you can’t access something because it’s blocked, you don’t need to subscribe to a VPN service.

The final word on VPNs

All of this might sound a bit complicated, but the bottom line is quite simple: A VPN is great and can fill different needs, but don’t do business with someone shady.