Decoded: Virtual Private Network and how it works 

If you’re a regular internet user, you have surely come upon the term VPN or Virtual Private Network. For those of us who are not that familiar with this tech term, here’s what it is. In simple terms, VPN is a service which keeps the internet activities of users private, making sure that no third-party agency is able to access it. In fact, your internet service provider will also not be able to track the sites you’ve browsed or the data that you have sent or received online.  

Recently, all VPN service providers across the country have been ordered by the union government to strictly adhere to the newly released cybersecurity rules by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), one of the vital wings of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. According to the directives that were issued recently by CERT-In VPN service providers should  

• Maintain validated names of all their customers 
• Keep a track of the IP addresses allotted to them, their email addresses, time stamps and so on, for a minimum period of five years.  

The government has initiated these stark regulations in order to tackle the growing rate of cybercrime in India and ensure better cybersecurity.  

How does VPN work? 
To understand the functioning of VPN, let us take the help of a real-life example. Imagine yourself travelling in your car. Here, the car’s number plate is equivalent to your internet IP address. In this case, people who you pass by on the streets can not only see where you’re headed, they can also use the numberplate to trace the car back to you. This is what happens when you browse online without VPN. But, when you do, it’s like taking the car through a secret roadway, even though the destination might still remain the same. In this case, nobody will know where you’re going, nor can they track the vehicle back to you.  

Those of you who are still finding it hard to decode VPN, here’s what happens when you switch on your VPN connection. A completely secured channel is created that acts as the bridge between the destination webpage and your device. Now, as and when you want to access any data, the VPN server connects you to it, ensuring that none of the data is spilled. However, this is where the trick happens. The VPN server, to protect your information, changes your IP address (online equivalent of a postal code), securing your location.