How do hackers actually obtain your IP and do (and if so how) VPNs stop them?
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Anytime you do anything online, your computer sends messages with your IP address in it. It has to do this so that the servers you are contacting know where to return their traffic to complete your request (whether thats loading a website, watching a movie, playing an online game, or something else).
Unless you are a wanted criminal or have mortal enemies, exposing your address by using the internet is not a big deal. Your address is public information, like your street and house number. On the other hand, if you value your privacy a lot, you can use a VPN service. The VPN acts like a P.O. Box, allowing you to substitute the address of another institution in place of your home address. By using the VPN / P.O. Box, advertisers and other spies are unable to associate you with your home address, nor indeed differentiate you from anyone else who also uses that Post Office / VPN. Therefore, the websites you interact with are less able to build a profile to serve you targeted advertising.
But it’s worth stressing that VPNs exploit peoples’ ignorance about the nature of hackers and spies to make them afraid _not_ to use a VPN. The reality is that while they do indeed help protect your privacy, you generally have no fear of being targeted by hackers anymore than you should fear that a stranger will rob your house if they figure out where you live. The only thing to be concerned about are people serving you advertisements and junk mail, just like the targeted junk mail that lands in your real mailbox every day. If you want that to stop, religiously protecting your home address by using a P.O. Box might help put an end to that. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth the monthly cost to keep that P.O. Box open.
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