VPNs

VPN stands for virtual private network. A virtual private network (VPN) is a technology that creates a safe and encrypted connection over a less secure network, such as the internet. Virtual Private network is a way to extend a private network using a public network such as internet. The name only suggests that it is Virtual “private network” i.e. user can be the part of local network sitting at a remote location. It makes use of tunneling protocols to establish a secure connection.

VPN meaning that it is a private point-to-point connection between two machines or networks over a shared or public network such as the internet. A Virtual Private Network is a combination of software and hardware. VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology, can be use in organization to extend its safe encrypted connection over less secure internet to connect remote users, branch offices, and partner private, internal network. VPN turn the Internet into a simulated private WAN.

Lets understand VPN by an example:

Think of a situation where corporate office of a bank is situated in Washington, USA.This office has a local network consisting of say 100 computers. Suppose another branch of bank are in Mumbai, India and Tokyo, Japan. The traditional method of establishing a secure connection between head office and branch was to have a leased line between the branches and head office which was very costly as well as troublesome job. VPN let us overcome this issue in an effective manner.

This is not only a single reason I should choose to use VPN. It also provide some amazing features which are listed below:

1. VPN also ensures security by providing an encrypted tunnel between client and vpn server.
2. VPN is used to bypass many blocked sites.
3. VPN facilitates Anonymous browsing by hiding your ip address.
4. Also most appropriate Search engine optimization (SEO) is done by analyzing the data from VPN providers which provide country wise stats of browsing a particular product. This method of SEO is used widely my many internet marketing managers to form new strategies.

Types of VPN (Virtual Private Network)

VPN is of three kinds:

Remote access VPN (Virtual Private Network)

• The VPN which allows individual users to establish secure connections with a remote computer network is known as remote-access VPN.
  • There is a requirement of two components in a remote-access VPN which are as follows:

1. Network Access Server (NAS)
2. Client software.

It enables the remote connectivity using any internet access technology.

Here, the remote user launches the VPN client to create a VPN tunnel.

Intranet VPN (Virtual Private Network)

• If a company has one or more remote locations and the company wants to join those locations into a single private network, then that company can create an intranet VPN so that they can connect LAN of one site to another one.
  • Intranet VPN can link corporate headquarters, remote offices and branch offices over a shared infrastructure using dedicated connections.
  • If we use intranet VPN, then it reduces the WAN bandwidth costs.
  • The user can also connect new sites easily by using this network.

Extranet VPN ( Virtual Private Network)

• If a company has the close relationship with the other company (that company can be their customer, supplier, branch and another partner company), then those companies can build an extranet VPN so that they can connect LAN of one company to the other. It allows all of the companies to work in a shared environment.  
• The extranet VPN facilitates e-commerce.

Type of VPN (Virtual Network Protocols)

Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)

We can make use of this protocol for encryption. It is used as a protocol suite. It is used as a “protocol suite for securing Internet Protocol (IP) communications by authenticating and encrypting each packet of IP of a data stream.” It requires expensive, time-consuming client installations, which is its most significant disadvantage.

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)

Generally, it is the most widely used VPN protocol among windows users. It was created by Microsoft in association with the other technology companies. The most significant disadvantage of PPTP is that it does not provide encryption. It relies on PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol). It is implemented for the security measures. It is also available for Linux and Mac users. As compared to other methods, PPTP is faster.

Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)

It is another tunnelling protocol which supports VPN. L2TP is created by Microsoft and Cisco as a combination between PPTP and L2F (Layer 2 Forwarding). L2TP also does not provide encryption as like as PPTP. The main difference between both of them is that L2TP delivers data confidentiality and data integrity.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

It is a VPN accessible via https over a web browser. Its most significant advantage is that it doesn’t need any software installed because it uses the web browser as the client application. With the help of SSL VPN, the user’s access can be restricted to specific claims instead of allowing access to the whole network.

Privacy, Security and Encryption

Data sent across the public Internet is generally not protected from curious eyes, but you can make your Internet communications secure and extend your private network with a virtual private network (VPN) connection. VPN uses a technique known as tunneling to transfer data securely on the Internet to a remote access.

The Internet connection over the VPN is encrypted and secure. New authentication and encryption protocols are enforced by the remote access server. Sensitive data is hidden from the public, but it is securely accessible to appropriate users through a VPN.

VPN and its legality 

Using VPN is legal in most of the countries, the legality of using a VPN service depends on the country and its geopolitical relations with another country as well. A reliable and secure VPN is always legal if you are not intended to use for any illegal activities like to commit a fraud online, cyber theft, or in some countries to download copyrighted content.

China has decided to block all VPN (Virtual private networks by next year, as per report of Bloomberg. Many Chinese Internet users use VPNs to privately access websites that are blocked under China’s so called “great firewall”. This is done to avoid any information leakage to rival countries and so as to tighten the information security.