I work in cyber security. While I agree that getting a VPN is a good idea, most people have misconceptions about it. I am here to dumb down as much as I can how a VPN works and undo some of the misconceptions.
The way your internet works usually is “Device —> Modem —> ISP —> Servers of the place you are trying to reach”. Now, your Device sends a request which is then enhanced by your modem and sent off to your ISP.
Basically, your computer makes & packs the package and adds the sender info (local ip, mac adress, etc) and the recepient info (the server where the request needs to be delivered to). Your modem then adds some other sender info such as your IP and then send it off to the ISP. Your ISP will then keep a copy of the package (request) and send the original to the recipient server. Now, if the tech team of the company did not fuck up and used https, the contents of the package itself should be encrypted, meaning that the ISP can’t see what you see, can’t see the password that you typed in, etc. and the package should be figuratively closed. They should only be able to see the sender and recipient information alongside all the other identifying info. Now, if the tech tram *did* fuck up and used http, your ISP can see the contents of the website you are visiting, can see the password that you entered, etc. and the package is figuratively left open and anyone can look in and see you know, the password you entered and stuff.
Now also, there could be someone in between your devices and your modem like this “Device —> Middle Man —> Modem —> ISP —> Servers of the place you are trying to reach”, the middle man will be able to read the same info as the ISP but that’s besides the point right now.
What a VPN does is, that it encrypts the request and puts it into a different request that is headed to the VPN’s servers. The request’s pathway will look something like this “Device (encrypted by a VPN) —> Modem —> ISP —> Servers of VPN (here the request is decrypted) —> Servers of the place you are trying to reach“. Using figuratively language, the VPN put your package inside another box, another package which is closed. So no-one can see the recipient & sender information of the original package, and if the original package was open no-one can see what is inside of that package. So the outer box/package now heads to the VPN’s servers, and once it arrives there, the VPN’s servers will unpack the outer box/package and send the original package to the original recipient
Now let’s point out some key points.
1. The VPN essentially becomes your ISP, it can read the request as if the encryption never existed.
2. By this complicated process, the IP from which you are sending the request changes to the IP of the VPN’s server.
3. Your ISP CAN NOT read your requests most of the time even without a VPN. If your browser has a lock icon next to the search bar, your requests are already encrypted, the website is using https, and the box is closed.
4. The only thing a VPN does, is make it seem like your requests are coming from a different IP, hides the original recipient info from your ISP & Man in the Middle attacks, hides the original sender information from the recipient server, and encrypts the contents… again. NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS. If a VPN does something more (such as ad-blocking) they will advertise it separately, it is not a thing that comes by default.
Wrote this at 1AM on my phone in bed as a non-native English speaker. Sorry fir the bad grammar.














