What is this?

[Caveman]

Saw this over in a slickdeals forum... Does a VPN service slow things down? Is it software that rides the network protocols of a PC to ensure its protected from the net, etc... Does it help prevent hacking? Can anyone help get me into the ballpark of what the term VPN means in the context of a home user?

I use one whenever I operate my work PC at home, but this seems different. When working from home, I create a "VPN Tunnel" to get back into the works servers securely. I assume that is a different use of VPN than this? Need some calibration here...

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/tb-back-to-school/howtousevpn

 

[ch33zw1z]

It's performing the same function as your work vpn, just for your personal use.

It creates a tunnel to the service provider, traffic between sites is encrypted.

Your ip on the Internet becomes the ip given by the service provider. In this case private Internet access (PIA)

Q1, does it slow things down?

A1, depends.

PIA software can automatically pick a server based on ping response time. Software picks server with best current connection.

So, this helps balance load across their environment.

Just like using the Internet without a VPN, your traffic on the Internet is subject to....the internet.

At times, the VPN service could experience issues that cause slowness, but it's not always the VPN.

Disconnecting and reconnecting through a different PIA server could work, but it could be the website/host that's having the problem as well.

Q2, does it prevent hacking?

https://www.google.com/search?clien...obile-gws-serp..0.1.183...30i10k1.c_0NveDSwR0

Does it make it harder to figure out who you are? Yes.

Does it prevent people from trying to access your public ip? No

Does it prevent viruses? No

Q3, context for home user?

A3, mask traffic that you want not traced back to your ISP provided ip address for any number of reasons.

Like, pr0n(I'm sure takes the #1 spot), or maybe someone is still using torrents for popular media aquisitions and offline archiving

I got into PIA a few years ago while looking for a VPN service to stream Netflix traffic without comcast being able identify my traffic as Netflix traffic. I also used it to watch the 2014 world cup by VPN'ing to London PIA server. BBC was streaming games live to anyone in the UK, so I needed a UK ip.

Since then, Netflix has disallowed VPN or "proxy" service.

I still subscribe and use it on my phone mostly while going between public hotspots, never know who is snooping at your local coffee shop

 

[mv2devnull]

I use one whenever I operate my work PC at home, but this seems different. When working from home, I create a "VPN Tunnel" to get back into the works servers securely. I assume that is a different use of VPN than this? Need some calibration here...

That (home--work) is the traditional meaning of VPN. Both your home and work computers are in same private network. Part of the traffic, however, goes through internet, so your "network" is virtual rather than real, private, dedicated hardware cable. The VPN solution encrypts the packets that cross the internet to ensure the privacy.

Can every encryption be broken, opened? Probably. In feasible time? Less likely.

An extension to the traditional VPN was that practically all traffic from the home computer is routed via the VPN tunnel to the work network. If you do browse to this site from your work computer, you seem to come from your company. Likewise, a VPN home user, whose traffic all goes via the tunnel, appears to be at the company. All company traffic thus seems to come from the company's public address.

Now this PIA "obfuscated routing" removes the company work machines from the picture. The home machine still forms a VPN tunnel to a "company VPN server", but there is nothing "private" there. Everything goes out to Internet. The "company server" is not even yours; it is owned by someone making money, and not by your "work's reliable IT guys". What you do gain is obfuscation. Your traffic seems to come from the public IP of that service provider and not from the public IP of your home. That does not make you anonymous or invisible; you can still be tracked down.

Encryption is computation. Somebody must do it. Some is heavier than others. Technically, you can have obfuscated routing without any encryption; the "remote end of the tunnel" merely has to do "port forwarding".

The route that packets flow when you browse internet has no effect on how much nasty stuff you bring home.