# VPN

> An encrypted tunnel that sends all your traffic through another network first.

- Level: Intermediate
- Topics: Networks, Security
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/vpn/
- In Spanish: [VPN](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/vpn/)

A **VPN** (Virtual Private Network) wraps all the traffic from your device inside an encrypted tunnel to a VPN server, which then sends it on to the internet on your behalf. Everything in between (the café Wi-Fi, your provider, the network you are on) sees only scrambled packets going to one address. The websites you visit see the VPN server's IP address, not yours.

There are two very different uses. Companies use VPNs so that a laptop at home can reach the office network as if it were plugged in there: internal tools, file servers, databases that are not exposed to the internet. Consumers use VPN services to hide their traffic from the local network, to appear to be in another country, or to get around blocks. Same technology (protocols like WireGuard, OpenVPN or IPsec), different purpose.

A VPN moves trust, it does not remove it. The VPN provider can see everything your internet provider used to see, so a VPN is only as trustworthy as the company running it. It does not make you anonymous (the sites you log into still know who you are), and it does not replace HTTPS, which already protects the content of each site. It does protect you on untrusted networks and hides which sites you visit from whoever runs that network. Many companies are replacing the office VPN with zero trust access, where each app checks identity directly.

## An analogy

Mailing all your letters inside one sealed bag to a trusted friend in another city, who opens the bag and posts them from there. Your local post office sees only bags addressed to your friend; the recipients see your friend's return address.

## Keep in mind

- All traffic goes encrypted to the VPN server, which forwards it to the internet.
- Sites see the VPN's IP address; your local network sees only an encrypted tunnel.
- The VPN provider can see what your ISP could: you are choosing whom to trust.
- Office VPN = reach the internal network; consumer VPN = privacy on untrusted networks, or location.

## Go deeper

- [What is a VPN? (Cloudflare)](https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/access-management/what-is-a-vpn/)
- [Virtual private network (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network)

## Related terms

- [Encryption](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/encryption/): Scrambling data so that only someone with the key can read it.
- [Server](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/server/): A computer whose job is to answer requests from other computers, all day, every day.
- [Internet](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/internet/): A worldwide network of networks that lets any connected device reach any other.
- [Wi-Fi](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/wi-fi/): Networking over radio waves: the internet without the cable, within a few rooms.
- [Packet](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/packet/): The small chunk every piece of internet data is cut into before it travels.
- [IP address](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/ip-address/): The number that identifies a device on a network, like a postal address.
- [Database](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/database/): An organized store of data that programs can search and update safely.
- [ISP](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/isp/): The company you pay to connect your home or phone to the internet.