VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. A VPN allows you to connect to a remote network and behave as if you were right there in the building. In the business world this means you can sit at home but connect to your work network and use features on your work IT system; things like shared folders, business applications, mail servers, even printers. This technology has been around for decades and is, or was, a great way to allow employees to work at home.
VPN software was always a bit clunky and tended to be used by a minority of more techie people. In the last 5 years or so home working has become much more commonplace and systems have adapted to work well remotely without VPN software. Business email is now all hosted in the cloud such as Office 365, many business applications have done the same such as QuickBooks and with collaborative platforms like Teams or SharePoint, working fine without a VPN in sight. So why are we seeing so many adverts for VPNs.
With a normal internet connection, without a VPN, your internet browsing is logged by your ISP. If you were to browse some illegal material, such as a terrorism fan site, it’s possible your activity on that site could be monitored by your ISP. If they were issued with a court order, they could link your computer to your own physical address and you would get a helicopter landing on your lawn.
Modern VPN software is less about connecting to a work network and more about masking your activity on the internet. VPN software might link you to a network in another country to make it look like you are there. If you visit an illegal site the authorities can only see the end of the VPN tunnel, and have to go through another layer before they can find you. This is very useful if you’re selling drugs or human kidneys, but not particularly useful if you’re a normal user browsing the web, checking email and the occasional cat video.
A VPN can actually cause problems to geographical sites like BBC, National Lottery, Sky TV, which will not work if they think you are located outside the UK. Of course this can also be an advantage: if you are staying out of the country and want to watch the BBC iPlayer then a VPN service can make it look like you’re back on the mainland and allow you access.
Do you need a VPN? Nope. VPN software is pushed hard by companies like Nord, AVG, Norton, etc but it’s a total waste of money unless you’re a career criminal or drug dealer.