What Does a VPN Hide? A Lot, But Not Everything - PIA VPN (2024)

FAQs

What Does a VPN Hide? A Lot, But Not Everything - PIA VPN? ›

A VPN reroutes your online connection through a VPN tunnel to give you a new IP address. This masks your real IP address, so data thieves and snoopers will have a very tough time getting your real location, if they can at all. Hiding your IP address effectively hides your zip code, city, state, and country.

A VPN encrypts your traffic and hides your IP address. As a result, it also hides your location, browsing history, searches, downloads, and any other activities, such as gaming or streaming. A VPN hides this information from bad actors, ISPs, websites, and even oppressive governments.

A VPN encrypts your data and changes your apparent IP address, thereby hiding your activities from your ISP and potentially from eavesdroppers.

Similarly to hiding your browsing activity, a VPN also hides your downloads from your ISP. That means your internet provider can't monitor what you download and see the content of those files. Remember that a VPN won't hide the amount of data you've used up for downloading files.

Word of Advice: In theory, all VPNs can see your online traffic when you connect to their VPN service. That's why you should choose the VPN that you can trust the most based on its privacy policy and jurisdiction.

A dedicated IP address is secure, but not as secure as a shared IP address. If your dedicated IP address is linked to your VPN account it can be traced back to you. That said, PIA VPN uses an anonymous token-based system to issue your dedicated IP address so no one can trace it back to you.

Yes, your ISP can see your VPN server's IP address. But it can't see anything else. This means that your ISP can likely tell that you're using a VPN, but it cannot track your online activity, see the pages you visit, the files you download, or anything else you do on the internet.

While people sometimes use VPNs to bypass geo restrictions or for malicious deeds, some websites block access if a user's VPN is on. In such cases, disabling a VPN might be necessary. Avoiding software conflicts. Some applications or services, such as online games or streaming services, may clash with a VPN.

Can police track online purchases made with a VPN? There is no way to track live, encrypted VPN traffic. That's why police or government agencies who need information about websites you visited have to contact your internet service provider (ISP for short), and only then your VPN provider.

Another common misconception is that a VPN protects you from online threats or cyberattacks. A VPN helps you stay invisible and behind the scenes, but it doesn't give you immunity against online risks like malware, ransomware, phishing attacks, or even computer viruses. That's where your antivirus software comes in.

Does VPN hide you from being tracked? ›

You can't be tracked using a VPN because it encrypts your data. As a result, your ISP or bad actors can't get any information out of your traffic. They only see the VPN server's IP address (e.g. if you're connected to a US server, the US IP address is visible), while your real IP and online activities stay hidden.

Does a VPN make me anonymous? No, a VPN cannot make you anonymous. They help secure what you're doing, but your ISP still knows when you're using the internet. They just can't see what you're doing, what sites you visit, or how long you've been on a site.

VPNs record two core aspects of online traffic: data transferred and the endpoints (websites) you received data from. By seeing which endpoints you connected with and how much data you exchanged, VPN providers could build up a comprehensive understanding of what you've been doing on those sites.

A VPN reroutes your online connection through a VPN tunnel to give you a new IP address. This masks your real IP address, so data thieves and snoopers will have a very tough time getting your real location, if they can at all. Hiding your IP address effectively hides your zip code, city, state, and country.

If you're on a public Wi-Fi network and the network administrators use network monitoring tools, they might be able to track your internet activity. However, you can't be tracked if you're using a virtual private network (VPN) service that prevents DNS leaks and does not log your activity.

If you're using a trustworthy VPN service, your browsing activities become illegible to snoopers. However, this doesn't mean a VPN user is entirely untraceable online. Internet service providers (ISPs), websites, and even governments can determine whether you're using a VPN.

Does a VPN make me anonymous? No, a VPN cannot make you anonymous. They help secure what you're doing, but your ISP still knows when you're using the internet. They just can't see what you're doing, what sites you visit, or how long you've been on a site.

VPNs establish a protected connection, meaning no one can see what you are doing. So, for example, a WiFi router or Internet service provider only sees jumbled data when you're browsing on a VPN. Not only that, but with a VPN server, you can use IP addresses from other countries.

Using a reliable virtual private network (VPN) can be a safe way to browse the internet. VPN security can protect from IP and encrypt internet history and is increasingly being used to prevent snooping on by government agencies. However, VPNs won't be able to keep you safe in all scenarios.