GLOSSARY
What is a VPN?
Published: 2026-08-25 · Updated: 2026-08-25
A VPN (virtual private network) is an encrypted tunnel between your device and a relay server. Traffic inside the tunnel cannot be read on the path between you and the server, and external sites see the server's address instead of yours. A VPN does not make you anonymous by itself: much depends on what data the service itself keeps.
When you connect to a VPN, your device establishes an encrypted session with the service's server and routes all or part of your traffic through it. Your local provider sees only the fact of a connection to the server, not its contents: encryption protects the payload.
To the sites and services you visit, the source appears to be the VPN server's address. That changes the visible path of your traffic, but it does not cancel accounts, cookies and other identifiers — privacy is built from several layers.
That is why the service's own policy matters most: what data it processes and how long it keeps it. Vinipuch publishes its logging and retention policy in plain text and processes the minimum: account, payments, access setup and total traffic volume. We do not keep browsing history.