Online privacy is as important as ever. But trying to keep your internet activity safe from the likes of hackers, advertisers, and government tracking isn’t as simple as avoiding suspect websites or phishing emails.

If you want to ensure you’re not being tracked by anyone — ranging from your internet service provider, which can sell anonymized browsing data about you, to malicious actors looking to steal your personal data or track your whereabouts — a virtual private network, or VPN, is one of your best options to stay secure.

What is a VPN?

When you visit a website, your data leaves your device, travels over the public internet, and connects to the server for the site you want to visit. Along the way, your data can be seen by advertisers, hackers, and government entities.

A VPN, however, is a service that masks your connection. Instead of your data traveling over the public internet, it is first sent to the VPN provider’s server which encrypts your information.

From the VPN your data goes to the website you’re trying to access, which then sends data back to you across the same route.

Since your data is secured during its trip through the VPN, it’s largely protected against malicious actors looking to intercept it in order to steal things like your banking information or otherwise snoop on you.

Chances are if you’ve been working from home, you’ve had to connect to a VPN to securely access your office’s private network and services.

The added benefit is that VPNs can make it appear as if you’re connecting from anywhere in the world other than your home, or wherever you traditionally connect to the internet, by obscuring your internet protocol, or IP, address.

Your IP address is basically your computer or smartphone’s mailing address for the web. It allows data to be sent directly to and from you over the public internet.

When using a VPN though, the VPN’s exit point to the public web becomes your new IP address. That means, to websites and trackers, it will appear as if you’re located wherever your VPN is located.

Do VPNs collect user data?

While VPNs are a good way to protect yourself online, it’s important to take note of how they operate. Most reputable VPN providers, such as Virtual Private Access or NordVPN, will provide you with a detailed list of the data they collect.

NordVPN, for instance, is based in Panama where it processes user data and guarantees a “no-logs” policy, meaning it doesn’t log data — including connection timestamps, session information, used bandwidth, traffic logs, or IP addresses. The only data it does monitor is server load information, cookies, Google Analytics data for website performance information, and customer service inquiries.