Personal VPN

What is VPN?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a service that encrypts your internet traffic and protects your online identity.

Why do we need VPN?

When we access a website on the internet, we started by connecting to our internet service provider (ISP). They redirect us to any website that we wish to visit. All the internet traffic passes through ISP’s servers, which means they can log everything we do online. Then, they can sell this history to advertisers or other third parties. And it can be dangerous sometimes.

How does VPN work?

1. When you send information online, it disassemble into small packet.
2. After connecting to VPN, it will create an outer layer surrounding the packets.
3. Then using encryption protocol, the information get encrypted.
4. It will then carry the information to the VPN server, which means your IP address will not be showed.
5. Finally, it gets to the server you requested, and receive information you need.

Why does it has risks and what can we do to prevent it?

There are free VPNs out there in the market and they may “share your data with advertisers, or even share your bandwidth with paying customers, leaving your data and connection exposed. It is very possible those free VPN contains malware. 38% of VPNs showed signs of infection. Most free VPNs make profit by using advertisement and most of the malware is related to advertisement. Therefore, it is important to us to check the VPN privacy statement before using them. For example, is it anonymous? Is it zero-logging? Is the protocol method up-to-date? Where are the servers located?

Education Use For education use, we also made a Personal VPN PowerPoint to help better understanding the topic.