Some of the visitors to this website often ask the question: “I prefer to keep my privacy on the Internet, but I also want to have a stable data transmission to watch my favorite movies or listen to music. So what’s best for me?”
To answer that question, let us look at some basic concepts regarding private browsing. The use of VPN services and proxy servers has become a common phenomenon among the modern user’s internet.
With the help of these VPNs and Proxy Servers, people remain anonymous when they visit sites, bypass regional restrictions on access to sites, and much more. You should know that despite their external similarities, they have some key differences.
A proxy server is any server that makes a user request on its own behalf and usually only runs one protocol. VPN using different protocols creates a secure tunnel between the user’s computer and the Internet. Proxy and VPN differ in principles of operation, degree of data encryption and level of protection. In simple terms, they are completely different technologies.
VPN services use high-level 256-bit encryption, which perfectly hides the traffic passing between you and their servers. At the same time, the proxy server only hides from third parties where your traffic is coming from.
Read on to see which one is best for you.
Talk about proxy servers.
Every time you use the Internet, your IP address leaves traces of your stay on web pages. This data is widely used by interested parties such as marketers, intruders, advertisers, and others. They pursue their own interests while violating your privacy. Proxy servers and VPNs are designed to protect you from all kinds of online infringements.
Proxy servers resist attempts to track your real IP address, so the site will end up seeing the IP address and location of the proxy server, not yours. There are two main types of open proxies – HTTP and SOCKS proxy servers. You can use them to protect your privacy and online anonymity.
HTTP proxies are the simplest proxy services. The maximum they can do is redirect the user’s web traffic (HTTP and HTTPS) from the client (your browser) to the server that hosts the website you want, hiding your IP address.
A SOCKS proxy is a more advanced but rarer option than a web proxy. The difference is that SOCKS can handle different types of traffic, not just web traffic.
Let’s talk About the SOCKS.
A VPN sets up a private network over a public one, that is, over the Internet. Your Internet traffic is redirected through a remote server that hides your IP from sites and encrypts all data transmitted from the device to the World Wide Web. This is the main difference between VPN and Proxy: protecting all your data on the Internet by encrypting and hiding it from prying eyes.
With a VPN application installed on the user device and connected to the VPN server, all user traffic will be encrypted, and the complexity of encryption can be varied. Once connected to the VPN server, you can visit any Internet resource without having to worry about the safety of personal information.
There is a spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey. The multitude of VPN providers should be divided into two groups: those who store the activity history of their users and those who do not. In the event that a VPN provider stores your information, logs of your activities may be disclosed at the request of law enforcement agencies.
It is believed that some free VPN services pass on information from their users to advertising companies or those who will pay more. Therefore, in some cases, the use of dishonest VPN services is similar to a deal with the devil. We recommend collaborating with paid VPN providers.
As we can see, the proxy server and VPN allow you to access any resource on the Internet while masking your real IP address and location. However, you need to use proven services and know about the pitfalls.
