If your workplace, say, had its own computer network and one day you needed to access that network from home you could install a cable between your home and your workplace and get access that way.
However, some bright spark realised that if both your home and your workplace were connected to the Internet then that wire already existed albeit in a complicated way. What was needed was a way to use that open Internet link in a private way so that you were virtually connected directly to your work network. That is what VPN was for.
Since then, people have started marketing it as a privacy system. What happens is that they create some networks and servers that you can link to using VPN. It then looks as if you are working on that network which could be in a different country. I use one to access US-only websites from the UK, for instance.
The question is, how much do you trust those sites that you connect to? They may be trustworthy or they could even be a three letter agency honeypot. How would you know?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.
If your workplace, say, had its own computer network and one day you needed to access that network from home you could install a cable between your home and your workplace and get access that way.
However, some bright spark realised that if both your home and your workplace were connected to the Internet then that wire already existed albeit in a complicated way. What was needed was a way to use that open Internet link in a private way so that you were virtually connected directly to your work network. That is what VPN was for.
Since then, people have started marketing it as a privacy system. What happens is that they create some networks and servers that you can link to using VPN. It then looks as if you are working on that network which could be in a different country. I use one to access US-only websites from the UK, for instance.
The question is, how much do you trust those sites that you connect to? They may be trustworthy or they could even be a three letter agency honeypot. How would you know?