Virtual Private Network provides privacy and other benefits when connecting to the Internet. Your Internet Service Provider connects your device to the Internet, so all data between your device and the servers connected to the Internet are shared with your ISP’s servers. Every device on the Internet is assigned a unique number called an IP address.
When you type the URL of a website into your browser’s address bar, your browser will send a request to your internet service provider, called a DNS query, requesting the correct IP address that you want to connect with.
DNS is like a big phone book that maps URLs to their respective IP addresses. Once your browser has obtained the correct IP address from your ISP, it will interact with the website.
Your internet service provider knows the router’s IP address you are using and the account it belongs to. They also know which website you visit because they log into every ISP DNS query they process with a timestamp when you make a query.
HTTPS is an encryption protocol that protects the connection between the website and your device. The use of HTTPS has become increasingly common. Without HTTPS, your ISP can see everything you do on the website. This includes the individual pages you visit, the payment details you enter, and any forms of data you submit.
HTTPS avoids this; however, even when using HTTPS, your ISP can see and log websites you visit, but not your activity. Websites can see the last IP address in the communication chain between your device and the webserver. Without a VPN, this is a unique IP address assigned by your ISP to your router.
The websites regularly record this information with timestamps, frequency, and duration of visits to understand how the website is used and how it works. It is straightforward to identify a particular user of the ISP who gave them the IP address on a website.
It is pretty unusual to identify a person in this way. At times, it may even require law enforcement, although most ISPs are happy to volunteer with legitimate law enforcement requests.
Also, your IP address always tells websites which country you are in, and maybe even what city. ISPs generally assign IP addresses to home users in the same geographic area in the block, and the databases where the IP blocks are given are publicly available.
When you use vpn for pc or mobile, you establish a secret connection with the VPN server. This connection is made over the Internet, which is referred to as a VPN tunnel. The VPN server mediates between the internet and your device, handling all DNS queries, to deliver data to the correct destination.
While your ISP can detect you are using a VPN, they cannot see a website or other internet resource that you connect to through the VPN server.
Your ISP cannot see the content because all data traveling between your device and the VPN server is encrypted. The same goes for Wi-Fi hackers, public Wi-Fi router operators, or anyone else who might typically see your data as it travels between your device and its destination.
When you use VPN, the last IP address in the communication chain between your device and the webserver is the VPN server. Therefore, the VPN server protects your actual IP address from the websites you visit, which only see the IP address of the VPN server.
