Starting a new thread, since this is likely to get very big very fast.
Continuing the discussion from Do You Use It? VPNs:
A VPN (virtual private network) is a system for connecting two computers over a large network (like the Internet) in a way that makes them appear to be sharing a single local network together.
You may already have experience with the concept. For instance, if you use (or once used) a broadband Internet service that requires you to connect with PPPoE, then you’ve been doing this all the time. In that situation, your router uses the PPP protocol to connect to some server in the service provider’s network. It then creates a virtual network interface corresponding to that PPP connection. All your Internet traffic is transmitted to that remote server via the PPP connection. Your service provider’s PPP server then forwards the traffic on to its final Internet destination.
A VPN is a similar concept. Let’s say you want to connect to your home network when you’re traveling and you don’t want to open it up to the Internet (which is normally going to be a very bad thing to do). You instead run a VPN server application on one of your computers and expose that server app (but nothing else) to the Internet.
Then when you’re traveling, you run a VPN client application on your (laptop?) computer. It connects to the server running on your home computer and creates a virtual network interface representing that connection. Now, your computer can access your home network using that virtual interface. Depending on how you have it configured, you may be able to access anything on your home network (file shares, printers, smart appliances, etc.).
Typically, the software will generate encryption keys as a part of establishing a connection, and all traffic sent over that VPN connection will be encrypted. This will help guard against third parties spying on and possibly tampering with your communication.
Businesses often set up something like this so employees can connect to the corporate network when out of the office.
The Internet privacy type of VPN is something very similar, but is designed to (try to) hide your Internet activity from prying eyes.
You still install a VPN client application on your computer. But instead of connecting to a server on your home network, it connects to a server on the VPN service provider’s network. It then changes your computer’s network configuration so all your network traffic is transmitted to the VPN provider’s server (via that connection). The VPN server then forwards your traffic (possibly modifying it for privacy reasons) to its final destination on the Internet.
The idea behind this is that if someone is spying on your network communication, all they will see is a lot of traffic to/from the VPN provider’s network. They won’t know what you’re really accessing, because all the data is encrypted.
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