What is a VPN and why do I need it?

The Nigerian government has said in a tweet yesterday that it has made a decision to ‘Suspend Twitter’s operations in Nigeria‘. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably seen the discussions about VPN being the only way to access Twitter’s website when the ban is implemented and you would really like to know what a VPN is and why you need it.

When browsing the internet, all your internet activities - shopping, paying bills, porn sites - are potentially exposed. Your internet service provider (ISP) - for e.g. MTN, SMILE, etc. the government (that may have banned you from using social media platform), other people on a shared network (office wifi, your friend’s hotspot), hackers, and even random internet strangers can pry in on what you’re doing on the internet but with a VPN, it is difficult for anybody to identify who you are, where you are, or what it is you’re doing, this keeps your computer, smartphone, or any other devices connected to the internet safe from anyone trying to snoop.

A VPN works as the middle man between you and the Internet. Say you want to check out your favourite shopping site using a VPN, the moment you click the search icon on a search engine, instead of your information being sent directly to the internet, it’ll be sent to your chosen VPN’s private server (basically a computer somewhere in the world) who then hides your IP address (set of numbers assigned to your devices by your ISP for easy identification and location) and makes the information you’re sending a mumbo jumbo during transmission so that when your information is transmitted to the internet, it comes from the VPN rather than the device you’re browsing with. Another crazy thing is, even if somehow, your connection is intercepted, the transmitted information will not be readable.

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