What is a virtual private network (VPN)?

VPNs encrypt personal data and hide online activities from unauthorized third parties, giving users a secure, private internet connection.

VPNs have played a foundational role in the growth of computer networking and the spread of the internet, and they are used by some of the largest and most successful organizations in the world. 

As computer networking and internet use accelerated in the late 1990s and early 2000s, so did the need for security solutions that would protect the privacy of individuals and businesses that relied on it. OpenVPN, an open-source VPN released in 2001, was one of the first widely used VPNs. It became popular because of its strong encryption and its ability to get around firewalls, which are security barriers between private and public internet connections.

Today, there are both free VPNs and VPN services that charge a monthly subscription. Some VPN users are willing to pay for additional security features like kill switches that will shut off an internet connection if a VPN connection is dropped.

Most VPNs can be downloaded as applications (VPN apps) from the app store and easily installed on a Mac or Android phone. They can also be installed as browser extensions on popular browsers like Chrome or Firefox. Modern VPNs are designed to work with all kinds of operating system (OS), including Windows, Linux (Android) and Mac (OS and iOS).

Computer networks are systems of interconnected devices like mobile devices, routers and data centers that are designed to communicate and share resources.

To function, computer networks rely on communication protocols, which are rules that dictate how devices can transmit or exchange data over a network.

Modern computer networks underpin most digital experiences, from personal communication and entertainment to the critical business processes of the world’s most successful enterprises.

Cloud computing is the on-demand access of information and compute resources (both physical and virtual) over the internet via a pay-per-use pricing model.

These resources are wide-ranging and can include servers, data storage, software, networking devices, application development (app-dev) tools and more.

Cloud computing has enabled enterprises of all sizes to become more efficient and scalable by leveraging the power of the internet to improve collaboration and flexibility. It has been foundational in the spread of remote work, allowing employees to access information and resources remotely they previously could access onsite only in more traditional IT infrastructure setups.

VPNs work by establishing a secure, encrypted connection between devices and a remote VPN server location and then sending internet traffic through the server. This process masks a user’s real IP address and keeps their browsing history private from hackers, internet service providers (ISPs) and other unauthorized parties.

Internet protocol (IP) addresses are numbers assigned to each device connected over a computer network. IP addresses allow devices on a network to locate and identify each other and communicate following network protocols.

VPNs hide IP addresses, allowing users to mask their geographical location and making it more difficult for websites and unauthorized third parties to monitor their activity.

Encryption is the process of transforming readable text into an unreadable format to protect it from unauthorized users.

Secure VPNs use encryption to keep data secure as it travels over the internet between users and devices. When a device connects to a VPN, a secret key is generated between the device and the VPN server. This key encodes and decodes data every time it travels through a VPN tunnel, a secure route from one point to another on a network.

In the context of VPNs, encryption strength depends on the ciphers, or algorithms, used to encode and decode personal data as it travels across a network.

For example, AES-256 and ChaCha20 are two highly secure encryption algorithms that power many of today’s industry-leading VPNs. The best VPNs don’t just encrypt personal data but all internet traffic a user generates, including domain name server (DNS) requests and responses.

Typically, a user opens a VPN app or browser extension so they can access an unprotected wireless network, such as free public wifi in a coffee shop, airport or some other public place.

VPN functionality depends on its ability to provide users with the same security and privacy on an open wifi network as they would enjoy on a private internet connection.

Once activated, the VPN encrypts all incoming and outgoing internet traffic on the user’s device, converting online activity into a secret, unreadable format that only a remote VPN server can decode.

VPN providers establish networks of VPN servers known as server networks specifically for this purpose.

After encryption, VPNs create a secure tunnel between a user’s device and a VPN server, then send encrypted data packets through that tunnel following specific rules known as VPN protocols.

Tunneling prevents unauthorized users, such as hackers and ISPs, from collecting and analyzing user data without a user’s permission.

Once a user’s encrypted data reaches another VPN server via tunneling, it is decrypted by using the key that was established between the device and the server when the VPN was activated.

After encrypting, sending and decrypting data via a VPN server, the system must mask the user’s real IP address. It routes internet traffic through intermediary remote servers, or proxy servers, which make the user appear to access the internet from a different location than their actual one.

Users who follow these five steps are ready to safely and securely access the internet, confident that their online activity and browsing history will remain private.

There are many established benefits for using VPNs, both personally and at the enterprise level, and demand for VPN services is growing accordingly. A recent report valued the global VPN market at almost USD 60 billion and projected it to reach USD 138 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 15%.¹

Here are some of the most popular benefits of using VPNs.

VPN encryption helps ensure a user’s internet connection is private and the sites they visit, content they share and their online activity are protected from advertisers, ISPs and other unauthorized third parties.

With the rise of cyberattacks (that is, efforts to steal or destroy through unauthorized access to a network) against popular social media companies, financial institutions and streaming services, protecting online privacy has become paramount. A strong VPN protects against many common attacks that target personal data.

VPN connections are a safe and secure way to enhance both personal and professional cybersecurity, protecting users from a variety of common cyberthreats.

In a business sense, using a VPN gives employees remote access to all the same resources they would have in an office setting, using a public wifi in a hotel or other public space.

Geographic restrictions, known more commonly as geo restrictions, are limitations on internet access based on a user’s geographical location and can restrict a user’s ability to access content via the internet. Often, geo-restrictions are put in place by authoritarian governments seeking to control what kinds of information their citizens have access to. VPNs allow users to access the information they need, no matter where they are, by masking their IP address and by using VPN tunneling and encryption to ensure their privacy.

VPNs help speed some internet connections, especially for users who are gaming or engaging in other high-bandwidth activities. They do this by preventing bandwidth throttling, a tactic used by some ISPs to control the amount of data used for certain online activities.

VPNs can help reduce price discrimination by websites looking to offer different prices for the same service based on a user’s geo-location. By masking IP addresses, VPNs make it possible for all users to receive the same prices, no matter where they are located.

Twenty-five years after they became popular, VPNs are still considered one of the safest and effective ways to access the internet. Providing users rely on a reputable VPN provider and use the app or service correctly, VPNs help protect against a wide range of cyberthreats.

However, even with the best VPNs, users should be aware that there are still some threats they aren’t protected against. For example, malware (software programs written specifically to harm a user, system or organization) is immune to VPNs and requires additional antivirus software for mitigation.

Organizations of all different sizes and across a wide range of industries rely on VPNs for a variety of use cases. From protecting remote workers to leveraging the cloud, here are five of the most common enterprise VPN use cases.