VPN is a virtual private network that allows a person to access to any remote network. The most common type of applications of VPN is to provide employees to their company’s network remotely from home or from any other location to do their daily tasks. This article is a quick guide to help you understand the different facets of VPN security, protocol design, technological standards, and network service outsourcing.
More important is that a VPN or virtual private network is a type of Wide Area Network also called as WAN. The main feature of a Virtual Private Network is the capability to access the most wanted network via public networks like the internet instead of relying on the privately leased lines. All VPNs allow the restricted access to any network via the same cabling medium as used in your own internet connection, without any compromise of the basic security.
Virtual private network can also be used as remote connectivity for the clients. This is like a LAN interconnection for controlled access inside an intranet. There are various different network protocols that are used in the developments of the Virtual Private Network. These are the methods of encryption and authentication for the purpose of security like PPTP, IPsec, L2TP, and SOCKS. These authentication protocols can allow a VPN client from a remote portal and host portals or servers to accurately establish the user’s identity on that network, whereas encryption protocols can potentially allow the sensitive information to be masked or hidden from the public.
With the growth in the popularity of the Wi-Fi systems, VPNs now have been implemented as a solution for security and privacy to protect users from unauthorized usage.
Virtual Private Network is usually used for the purpose of internetworking. We can also say that a VPN can be used as a bridge between two different or discrete networks, by channeling the information traffic between the two remote networks from one VPN server to the other.
The big disadvantage of using a Virtual Private Networks is security because they require a complete awareness of network security and careful ways to install as well as monitor to provide sufficient protection for your data when it is routed via a public network like internet or telephone lines. Using a VPN can remove the ability of maintaining the stability of the channel from the company or the organization as they must rely on an Internet service provider or ISP and on what service quality they offer. VPN solutions that are acquired from different service providers are not usually compatible with each other just because of the different technology standards for the VPN is updated.
