VPN works, it is safe to use, and it does not expose your Data.
I am moved to write this technical article to
refute and dispel the misinformation which Minister Lai Mohammed put out there
during his very combative attempt to explain the suspension he placed on Twitter
to the Nigeria NASS. I could not believe my ears, what I heard from that man,
Lai Mohammed, more so that a Minister will make such a brazen inaccurate
statement about a popular technology among internet users. It is okay to not
know, it is unforgivable to make factually WRONG technical statements.
What that man said in that hearing with bold face
is a disservice to all the technically aware/savvy Nigerians. It was shameful
no one in that room knew enough about VPN to correct him up front.
I am going to try and explain VPN in its most
basic form and its benefits to everyone that uses this technology, including our
people, the Nigeria population.
For the record, VPNs are very safe, all packets
through it are ENCRYPTED and no one can intercept it, except the intended
person at the destination point.
Long before VPN became popular among ordinary
users, VPN (Virtual Private Network) has been in use for many decades in
Corporations. VPN is the tool by which employees of most Institutions and
Corporations connect remotely to their home offices and process company’s
information/data safely and securely. I suspect that the use of VPN will even
get to be more popular in Nigeria because of the avoidable gaffe of the
government banning Twitter.
What is a VPN (Virtual
Private Network)?
VPN is the process or the technology which allows your data to go
over an encrypted connection (tunnel) from your house or your Smartphones/Handsets
to another point on the Internet, through a designated VPN server, which may
probably be in another country, and then make its way onto the public Internet.
The advantage of this encrypted
connection is that your data has the IP address that is assigned to the other
end of the tunnel, not your home IP, but <VPN IP: 172.30.50.1>.
That means that when you connect to a web server the IP address seen by the server is that of the VPN endpoint <VPN IP: 172.30.50.1>, not your home IP address. By doing this, the user is offered some PRIVACY.
How Does a VPN Work?
Here’s how VPN works for the
user. A VPN client (software) is launched to initiate a VPN connection through
your VPN service. This software encrypts your data, and makes it invincible to
even your Internet Service Provider (ISP). VPN shields and protects your
information when you use those Coffee Shop/Airport/Hotel Wi-Fis. The data then
goes to the VPN Server, and from the VPN Server to your online destination.
This could be anything from your bank website to a video sharing website to a
search engine and the likes.
The online destination sees
your data as coming from the VPN server and its location, and not from your
computer and your home/location.
When you connect to the web without a VPN, here’s how your connection looks like:
This is the standard, and this
is how most people access the internet, i.e without VPN. This type of
connection has some flaws and your information can be pried open and be viewed and even altered by
unintended persons. All of your data is out there in the open, and anyone who
is interested can peek at what you’re sending.
Just like most of us know, the
internet is a collection of servers responsible for
(a) storing websites and
(b) serving the website
information to anyone who has requested and wants to view them.
Those servers do as a matter of
design talk to each other all the time, including sharing your data with each
other and to ultimately allow you to browse a requested page. If you are only interested
in surfing the internet, this is great, this may be all that you need, but it
is not great for privacy. If it’s just a fun website that you’re looking
at then, there may not be any need to worry about privacy. With this type of
simple needs, it may not matter if someone sees your data.
But if you are looking to
access your banks for more complex transactions, your business emails, or some
other online functions which carry sensitive information, then you need a VPN,
and not just any VPN, you need a very secured VPN.
Illustrated below is what connection looks like with VPN enabled:
When you use a VPN service, your data is encrypted. The data travels in encrypted format from your device (Handsets/Phones, Laptops. Desktop etc) to your ISP.
From your ISP, it will then
travel to the VPN server. The VPN server for the most part, is a third-party
equipment that connects you to the web or the internet. The end-to-end
provision helps to ensure:
(1) the privacy of the user and
it also
(2) eradicate the data's
security problem.
- The destination site sees the VPN server <VPN
IP: 172.30.50.1> as the traffic origin, not you.
- It makes it impossible for anyone to
steal your information or even sees it. This is because no one can
(easily) identify you, or your computer as the source of the data, nor
what you’re doing (what websites you’re visiting, what data you’re
transferring, etc.).
- Your data is encrypted, so even if
someone does look at what you’re sending, they only see encrypted
information and not the raw data.
What is not safe however is the Federal Government instituted NIN,
where enormous power is given to Patanmi, a government functionary, who is
acting in bad faith against the citizens of Nigeria. An unelected Patanmi,
ascribes the all knowing power to himself, to do as he please with citizens
data. Patanmi is the Minister who has confessed to being terrorists sympathizer,
in my view, such a person should never have been allowed to go near anyone’s
information, let alone, the personal information of every Nigerian. If I may
make a wild guess, Patanmi may know a lot about the killing of Gen. Owoye
andrew Azazzi and the late Kaduna Gov. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa --- December 15,
2012, this is a subject for another time.
Conclusion: A very good VPN provides privacy and security and it
is much safer than connecting to the web/internet the traditional way.
Please don't believe what Minister Lai Mohammed said at the NASS.
VPN is safe and it helps protect the integrity of your data. The man doesn't
know what he is talking about.
