Under the Hood: How a VPN Secures Your Connection

Ever wondered about the magic that happens when you click “Connect”? This guide provides a deeper, more technical look into how VPNs work, from encryption and protocols to the journey your data takes.

The Three Pillars of VPN Technology

A VPN is built on three core technological concepts working in harmony: Tunneling, Encryption, and Secure Servers.

Tunneling Protocols

A tunneling protocol is a set of rules that creates a secure “tunnel” through the public internet. It encapsulates your data packets inside other packets before sending them across the network. This process hides your data from your ISP and any other intermediaries.

RedWeb Security is built on OpenVPN V3, a highly secure and versatile protocol known for its ability to bypass firewalls and its strong community vetting.

Encryption Standards

Encryption is the process of scrambling your data so that it can only be read by authorized parties. Inside the secure tunnel, all your data is encrypted.

We use 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). This is a symmetric encryption algorithm, meaning the same key is used to encrypt and decrypt the data. With 2^256 possible combinations, it is considered computationally infeasible to crack with current technology, which is why it’s trusted by governments and security agencies worldwide.

Secure Server Network

When you connect to a VPN, your encrypted data tunnel terminates at a secure server owned or operated by the VPN provider. This server then decrypts your request and forwards it to the public internet. In doing so, it replaces your personal IP address with its own, effectively masking your identity and location.

The Journey of a Single Data Packet

Here’s what happens every time you request a website while connected to RedWeb Security:

Request Initiation

You type www.example.com into your browser.

VPN Client Interception

The RedWeb Security client on your device intercepts this request before it goes to your ISP.

DNS Resolution

The request is sent through the encrypted tunnel to our private, no-logs DNS servers to resolve the IP address of www.example.com.

Data Encapsulation & Encryption

Your data packet is encapsulated using the OpenVPN protocol and encrypted with a 256-bit AES key.

Travel Through the Tunnel

The encrypted packet travels from your device, through your ISP’s network (though they can’t see its contents or final destination), to the secure RedWeb Security server you selected.