Standing for Virtual Private Network according to abbreviationfinder, VPN allows you to create a secure connection to another network through the Internet. When you connect any device to a VPN, it acts as if it is on the same network as the one with the VPN, and all data traffic is sent securely through the VPN.
This means that you can use the Internet as if you were present in the region that has the VPN network, which is very useful if you need access to content that is blocked by region. For example, if you want to enter to look at the catalog of an exclusive service of a specific country, with a VPN you can do so, because once you enter with the masked connection, said service will only see that you are connecting from that country, although in reality Do not be like that. In addition, the VPN is a private and virtual network as its name implies, therefore all the traffic that passes through that network is secured and protected from unwanted eyes. This can be very useful when connecting to a public Wi-Fi network.
It allows the computer on the network to send and receive data over shared or public networks as if it were a private network with all the functionality, security and management policies of a private network. This is done by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection using dedicated connections, encryption, or a combination of both.
The VPN connection over the Internet is technically a wide area network (WAN) junction between the sites but to the user it appears as if it were a private link hence the designation “virtual private network”.
Common examples are the possibility of connecting two or more branches of a company using the Internet as a link, allowing members of the technical support team to connect from their home to the computer center, or that a user can access their home computer from a remote site, such as a hotel. All this using the Internet infrastructure.
Uses of a VPN
- Access to a network while traveling. VPNs are frequently used for professionals who travel and need to break into their network while away. Using this method allows resources to be kept safe because they are in the cloud.
- Access to a home network while on the go. It can also be used to enter the computer that we have left at home, as if we were using a LAN (Local Network Area).
- Hide browsing data. For example, if you’re using public Wi-Fi, the kind that is available without a password in restaurants and shopping malls, everything you visit that doesn’t have an HTTPS connection will be visible to anyone who knows where to look. On the other hand, if you have a VPN, the only thing they can see is the connection to the VPN; everything else will be anonymous.
- Entering geo-blocked sites. Usually, region blocking problems ask that you be in the United States. This happens with Hulu, Pandora or the Netflix catalog that is the largest and most complete in this country. Sometimes it also happens in certain YouTube videos. To avoid these restrictions, you just have to use a VPN that has a US
- Avoid censorship on the Internet. For those governments that decide to censor certain websites, a VPN works very well to access them without problems.
Types of VPN
There are basically four VPN connection architectures:
Remote access VPN
It is perhaps the most widely used model today, and consists of users or providers that connect with the company from remote sites (commercial offices, homes, hotels, prepared airplanes, etc.) using the Internet as an access link. Once authenticated, they have a level of access very similar to that of the company’s local network. Many companies have replaced their dial-up infrastructure (modems and telephone lines) with this technology.
Point-to-point VPN
This scheme is used to connect remote offices to the organization’s headquarters. The VPN server, which has a permanent link to the Internet, accepts Internet connections from the sites and establishes the VPN tunnel. Branch office servers connect to the Internet using the services of your local Internet provider, typically using Broadband connections. This eliminates costly traditional point-to-point links (commonly made through physical cable connections between nodes), especially in international communications. The following point is more common, also called tunneling technology or tunneling.
Tunneling
The tunneling technique consists of encapsulating one network protocol over another (encapsulating network protocol) by creating a tunnel within a computer network. The establishment of said tunnel is implemented by including a determined PDU (protocol data units) within another PDU with the aim of transmitting it from one end of the tunnel to the other without requiring an intermediate interpretation of the encapsulated PDU. In this way the data packets are routed on intermediate nodes that are unable to see clearly the content of said packets. The tunnel is defined by the end points and the communication protocol used, which, among others, could be SSH.
The use of this technique pursues different objectives, depending on the problem that is being dealt with, such as the communication of islands in multicast scenarios, the redirection of traffic, etc.
One of the clearest examples of the use of this technique is traffic redirection in Mobile IP scenarios. In mobile IP scenarios, when a mobile-node is not in its home network, it needs its home-agent to perform certain functions at its station, among which is to capture the traffic directed to the mobile-node and redirect it to he. This redirection of traffic is carried out using a tunneling mechanism, since it is necessary that the packets preserve their original structure and content (source and destination IP address, ports, etc.) when they are received by the mobile-node. It is managed remotely.