What is a VPN program and what purposes is it used for: Explanation by Samvel Martirosyan

A VPN (virtual private network) is a program that you install on your phone or computer. This was stated by information security expert Samvel Martirosyan in an interview with Para TV, explaining what a VPN is.

"It encrypts all your internet traffic and doesn’t send it where you intended; it creates a pipeline and sends the data to servers owned by its VPN, which can be located in different countries, and then retrieves it from there to access 'Facebook.' It's like traveling from the Center to Charbakh through the 9th Massiv," he explained.

Samvel Martirosyan clarified that VPNs are used for several purposes. "Firstly, it allows you to bypass restrictions. For example, Azerbaijani websites are inaccessible for many people in Armenia; by connecting to a VPN, you trick the blocking system into thinking that you aren’t in Armenia, and it lets you in," he said.

The expert stated that the second purpose is to protect your personal data. "Starting from the fact that if you are using public WiFi, the VPN ensures that your data isn’t stolen, as it conceals your visits from prying eyes, which many people use to make themselves invisible to monitoring bodies. This means that when I connect to a VPN, the special services, the provider, the police do not see where I am going, and on the other hand, Facebook cannot see where I accessed it from," he added.

Samvel Martirosyan noted that there are countries where using a VPN is punishable, whereas in Armenia, it is freely available software, and many people use it for various reasons. "For example, many people use it because they need to visit Azerbaijani or Turkish sites, which are blocked, and there are people who simply want to remain unmonitored," he said.

It should be noted that the National Security Service had arrested Ara Saghatelyan, the former head of the National Assembly staff (who was later detained), Karen Bekaryan, a co-founder of 'Quartet Media' (who has already been released), Mher Avagyan, a manager at the 'International Center for the Development of Parliamentarism' NGO (has been released), and citizen Aram Sargsyan (who is detained). They are accused of creating a fake account on the social network 'Facebook' under the name 'Gagik Soghomonyan' and managing it through a VPN service during the state of emergency, violating the rules on the publication or distribution of information. Experts argue that anyone could have used the same VPN that the aforementioned user utilized.