Primary Purposes Of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
Virtual private networks have been in use for decades but sometimes you might be tempted to wonder what the primary purpose of a virtual private network is and what the primary purpose of virtual private networks is. We will be looking at the primary purpose of private virtual networks in this article. Several studies have been undertaken about the purpose of virtual private networks and their primary function.
Several of these studies came out with the conclusion that there are several purposes carried out by virtual private networks including remote access provision, and protection of confidential data.
Primary Purposes of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
Primary Purposes of Virtual Private Networks(VPNs)
A virtual private network (VPN) is a technology that creates a safe and encrypted connection over a less secure network, such as the internet. The virtual private network technology was developed to allow remote users and branch offices to securely access corporate applications and other resources provided by the head office in an organization setting usage.
The virtual private network ensures the safety of data and information travel through secure tunnels. Virtual private network users are required to use authentication methods including passwords, tokens, or other unique identification procedures to gain access to the VPN server.
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Primary Purposes Of Virtual Private Networks(VPNs)
Virtual private networks have several uses which we may not be able to exhaust in this article. VPNs serve different primary purposes to individuals and corporate organizations. Some of the primary purposes of virtual private networks Include;
To Bypass Internet Censorship
To Access Geo-restricted Websites
To Hide User’s Browsing Activity
To connect to a wireless network
To provide encryption between hosts on a public network
To bypass firewalls and filters on the local network
To provide privacy and anonymity when browsing the web
To Avoid bandwidth-throttling
To Bypass Internet Censorship
VPN helps in bypassing internet censorship, in areas in the world where the governments impose strict internet censorship on their citizens and make it impossible for such citizens to access certain websites and services. Such restrictions can be bypassed by citizens with the use of virtual private networks, running on servers located outside the region, and get unrestricted access to the internet.
Several countries around the world have strict control and restrictions including; China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. Citizens in such countries with full or partial censorship in place use virtual private networks to circumvent these restrictions and have access to the internet sections restricted in these regions.
Access Geo-Restricted Websites
Users of VPN can get access to locations they would rather not access with the use of a virtual private network. Virtual private networks allow users that are restricted from accessing websites abroad or in locations around the world. For example, you want to view some sporting video or event going on in the US but you do not live in the US where such events are allowed to ɓe streamed but you want to have access to view such events.
A virtual private network will help you to be able to view such events. By tunneling your internet traffic with an IP that makes your device look like it is located in the US. Virtual private networks also help users to have access to website streaming services that have geolocation access restrictions against them. Some of such streaming services include Netflix, Pandora, Hulu, etc., which are mostly available in the US and most parts of western Europe.
To Hide User’s Browsing Activity
Virtual Private Networks are also used primarily to hide users browsing activity. Virtual private networks hide users browsing activities by allowing users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as though the user’s computing devices are directly connected to the private network they are accessing. In this way, all the applications run across the VPN network by the user benefit from the functionality, security, and anonymity provided by the VPN.
Usually, When you make use of public Wi-Fi connections, your browsing activity and history are visible for everyone around you with access to see. Such situations are prevented with the use of virtual private networks that prevent such viewing by encrypting your data.
To Connect To A Wireless Network
Virtual private networks are tools that enable users to connect to networks over the Internet from any location. In this situation, the user’s computer functions as if it were on the same local network as the remote network created by the virtual private network. This means that when users log in to a VPN, they will have access to all the network resources available on the virtual private network wirelessly.
To Provide Encryption Between Hosts On A Public Network
A virtual private network provides secure communication for users of virtual private networks over public networks. This is achieved by using the encrypted tunnels of the virtual private network in sending and receiving data through the public network. Virtual private networks also encrypt network traffic passed between a host client or server and a destination client. The destination may be an internal device on the local network or an external resource on the internet.
To Bypass Firewalls And Filters On The Local Network
Virtual private networks are very important and are also primarily used for bypassing firewalls and filters on local networks. Using virtual private networks to bypass local network firewalls and filters ensures full access to resources and information on the Local network that would have not been possible without using a virtual private network to circumvent the firewall and filter blocking on the local network against the user.
This bypassing is achieved through changing and bouncing off users’ IP addresses so that the local network cannot be able to restrict the newly generated IP address. Virtual private networks can also be used to bypass firewalls and filters on the internet in a more broad sense.
For example, many organizations and companies use firewalls to restrict employees from having remote access from the outside of the company such restrictions can be bypassed with the help of a virtual private network.
To Provide Privacy And Anonymity When Browsing The Web
This is another of the very basic primary purpose of a virtual private network (VPN). Virtual private networks provide privacy to users by hiding the user’s actual device IP address, when this happens the virtual private network (VPN) provides anonymity to such users while they browse the internet.
The anonymity provided to VPN users by the virtual private networks ensures that data theft cannot occur while such users are surfing the internet. The virtual private networks provide secure access to users even while providing such users with anonymity and privacy.
Avoid Bandwidth-Throttling
Virtual private networks prevent you from witnessing bandwidth throttling which is the slowing down of your internet browsing speed. This can be done by your ISP or your local network administrator. But with a virtual private network, you can escape Bandwidth-Throttling. Internet users can deploy virtual private networks to stop the throttling of their internet speed.
A virtual private network can thwart the sluggishness of your internet speed by encrypting your device’s internet traffic. This prevents anyone on the same network from seeing the content of your web traffic and disguises its destination.
Conclusion
We have highlighted some of the basic primary purposes of a virtual private network (VPN), and have explained how they provided de their functions. Note that there are thousands of virtual private network service providers therefore the quality and how these VPNs can perform these primary functions depends on the type of virtual private network software client that you decide to use.
The security features and functionality of a virtual private network are among the most important purposes for which virtual private networks are developed in the first place. Hence many VPN service providers take seriously the integration of the security feature of their client software. Also before you decide on what VPN software to deploy for use properly look at and understand the provider’s terms of service, this applies to free and paid VPN software.