Stands for Virtual private network
flowchart TD
A[User Device] -->|Encrypts Data| B[VPN Client]
B -->|Sends Encrypted Data| C[ISP]
C -->|Forwards Encrypted Data| D[VPN Server]
D -->|Decrypts Data| E[Destination Server]
E -->|Sends Response| D
D -->|Encrypts Response| C
C -->|Forwards Encrypted Response| B
B -->|Decrypts Response| A
If you don't trust your ISP (internet service provider), why would you trust VPN xy?
Self-hostable services are e. g. : Wireguard, OpenVPN and Tailscale
Types of VPN
Mesh
In a mesh network, different nodes can connect to each other.
A man in the middle server establishes the peer-to-peer connections. After setting up the connection, the devices do not need the server in the middle anymore.
Tailscale is one of these.
Sources: https://tailscale.com/learn/understanding-mesh-vpns
Point to point / hub-and-spoke
Every traffic is send through the main server. The main sever can be a FRITZ Router, running Wireguard for example. The router's public IP is exposed, and network traffic routed through it, without having to expose various ports.