Have you wondered what people mean when they say 'VPN'? Let me
enlighten you!
The definition of a VPN from Wikipedia:
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) extends a private network across
a public network, such as the Internet.
Don’t understand what it means? Not to worry, it just means that
a VPN connects users directly and securely to each other over the
Internet.
Still don’t understand? Let me give you an analogy to illustrate
what I mean!
Imagine you have a house at one end of an island and you want to
go to your friend’s house on the other end of the island. Normally,
you would drive a car on the public roads to reach your friend’s
house. However, other people can see when you are going to your
friend’s house and you don’t have any privacy at all.
Let’s say each house represents a private network and the public
roads represent the Internet. Traveling on the public roads is like
connecting to other servers on the Internet. You have no privacy at
all because anyone can see what servers you are connected to at any
moment on the Internet.
Now, you want no one to know when you are heading towards your
friend’s house. After much thought, you decide to dig a tunnel from
your house to your friend’s house. By doing so, no one can see when
you are going to your friend’s house, giving you the privacy you
need.
The tunnel here represents a VPN! A VPN creates a direct tunnel
between your server and other servers such that no one can see what
servers you are connected to at any moment. This means that using a
VPN guarantees your privacy on the Internet!
Ask me any questions about VPN and I'll be happy to reply! I've
been writing stuff about VPNs on my blog
here, do take a look!