Tracing a packet's actual path through a VPN — from the moment you hit connect to the moment a request reaches its destination — makes it much easier to understand what a VPN protects, and exactly where things can go wrong.
Step by step
- Tunnel setup. Your VPN client negotiates an encrypted connection with the VPN server, exchanging keys so both sides can encrypt and decrypt traffic between them.
- Traffic capture. The client reconfigures your device's networking so outbound traffic routes through the tunnel instead of directly to the internet — this is also the step where DNS settings typically get redirected too.
- Encryption. Your traffic is encrypted before leaving your device, unreadable to anyone observing the connection between you and the VPN server, including your ISP.
- Transit through the provider's network. Encrypted traffic reaches the VPN server, which decrypts it and forwards the actual request onward to the internet.
- Exit to the destination. The destination site sees the request coming from the VPN server's IP address, not yours.
- Return path. The response follows the same path in reverse, re-encrypted back through the tunnel to your device.
Where gaps tend to appear
Because DNS handling and IPv6 routing are separate configuration concerns from the core tunnel, a client that gets the encryption step right can still leave one of those secondary paths unprotected — see DNS Leaks Explained and IPv6 Leaks Explained for the two most common examples.
FAQ
Does the VPN server see my traffic in plaintext?
Yes — the VPN server necessarily decrypts your traffic to forward it onward, which is why the provider's own logging and trust practices matter as much as the encryption itself.