VPN Basics • 7 min read • Updated Oct 2026

How Does a VPN Work? Step-by-Step Architectural Walkthrough

Understand the complete packet lifecycle: from key exchange to packet encapsulation, RAM-only gateway execution, and anonymous internet egress.

The Standard Internet Journey (Without a VPN)

When you request a website without a VPN, your computer queries your local Internet Service Provider (ISP) DNS servers, resolves the IP, and transmits requests across public routers in plaintext metadata. Your ISP logs every domain you visit, timestamps, and your geographic coordinates.

The VPN Journey: 4 Step Tunneling Process

1

Cryptographic Handshake

Your client and the Paben VPN server use Curve25519 elliptic curves to derive shared session keys via the Noise protocol without ever transmitting the secret key across the network.

2

Packet Encapsulation

Your operating system routes all network traffic into the virtual WireGuard adapter. Each packet is wrapped inside ChaCha20 encryption with an outer UDP wrapper. To your ISP or public Wi-Fi snooper, it looks like random undecryptable noise.

3

RAM-Only Server Decryption & CleanWeb Filtering

The gateway server decrypts the payload in volatile RAM (never touching hard drives). Paben's CleanWeb filter checks destination IPs against real-time malware and ad tracker blocklists.

4

Anonymous Internet Egress

The server forwards the request to the final destination using its own high-speed IP address. The website sees the server's IP, completely masking your true device and location.

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