What is a VPN

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What is VPN?

VPN stands for ” Virtual Private Network ” and describes the method used to establish a secure network connection when using public networks. VPNs encrypt your internet data and disguises your online identity. This makes it more difficult for third parties to track your activities online and steal data. The encryption takes place in real time.

How does a VPN work?

A VPN hides your IP address by letting the network divert it through a specially configured remote server at a VPN hosting location. This means that if you connect online with a VPN, the VPN server becomes the source of your data. This means your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and other third parties can not see which websites you visit or what data you transmit and receive online. A VPN works like a tunnel that turns all your data into encrypted gibberish. If someone were to get their hands on your data, it would be useless.
A VPN connection establishes a secure connection between you and the internet. Via the VPN, all your data traffic is routed through an encrypted virtual tunnel. This disguises your IP address when you use the internet, making its location invisible to everyone. A VPN connection is also secure against external attacks.

What are the benefits of a VPN connection?

A VPN connection disguises your data commerce online and protects it from external access. Unencrypted data can be viewed by anyone who has network access and wants to see it. With a VPN, hackers and cyber culprits cannot decipher this data.

Secure encryption means that to read the data, you need an encryption key. Without one, it would take millions of attempts for a computer to crack the encryption in the event of a brute force attack. With the help of a VPN, your online activity is hidden from prying eyes.


5 Common VPN Rules of conduct
There are two main approaches to VPN tunneling:

  1. Either two rules of conduct are used;

one rule of conduct to move the data through the tunnel, and one rule of conduct to secure that traffic.

  •  Or one rule of conduct is used for both data transmission and data security.

    This is the five most common VPN rules of conduct and their benefits.

    1) PPTP
    Point-to-Point Tunneling Rules of conduct is one of the oldest VPN rules of conduct in existence. Developed in the mid 1990s by Microsoft, PPTP was integrated into Windows 95 and was specifically designed for dial up connections. As technology advanced, PPTP’s basic encryption was quickly cracked, compromising its hidden underlying security. However, because it does not have many of the security features found in other modern rules of conduct it can deliver the best connection speeds for users who may not need heavy encryption. While PPTP is still used in certain computer programs, most providers have since upgraded to faster more reliable methods.

    PROS and CONS: fast data speeds, wide support, but many security issues.

    2) L2TP / IPSec
    Layer 2 Tunnel methodology is a replacement of the PPTP VPN rules of conduct. This method does not provide any encryption or privacy out-of-the-box and is often paired with the IPsec security rules of conduct. Once implemented, L2TP/IPsec is very secure and has no known vulnerabilities.

    PROS and CONS: widely used, good speeds, but easily blocked due to the reliance of UDP on a single port.

    3) OpenVPN
    OpenVPN is an open source method that allows developers access to the source code. This method has grown in popularity due to its use of highly secure AES-256 bit key encryption with 2048-bit RSA and a 160-bit SHA1 hash set of computer instructions.
    PROS and CONS: open source, strongest encryption, but slower speeds.

    4) SSTP
    Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol is popular due to being fully integrated with every Microsoft operating system since Windows Vista SP 1. SSTP uses 2048-bit SSL/TLS certificates for verification and 256-bit SSL keys for encryption. The biggest detractor of SSTP is that it is basically a Microsoft developed proprietary method and developers do not have access to the source code.

    PROS and CONS: good security, very hard to block and detect, great support for native and third party clients, but proprietary.

    5) IKEv2
    Internet Key Exchange version 2 is a common VPN tunneling method that provides a secure key exchange session. Almost the same as L2TP (and IKEv1), IKEv2 is usually paired with IPsec for encryption and verification. This method works very good with system reboots, intermittent connection loss, and is very good at switching connections across different network types. (WiFi, cellular, etc.)

    PROS and CONS: fast, mobile friendly, network switching abilities, open source options, great support for third party clients.

    Several years ago, Net Motion engineers figured out that while standard security methods meet the needs of mobile users, there simply was not a reliable method designed for wireless. So Net Motion designed an improved VPN methodology.

    There are two main considerations of a mobile VPN: server mobility and client mobility. This system communicates using a private, unique, and secure, transmission method called IMP and RT-IMP:  a version of IMP with improved traffic latency for use with voice and video. Both IMP and RT-IMP utilize UDP. On wireless networks, they provide TCP like reliability with the performance advantages of UDP.

    Mobility client and server masks tunneled IP flows from changes in the underlying physical wireless network. This makes it possible for TCP connections used with tunneled computer programs remain connected while network roaming. Roaming uses industry standard encryption methods, as well as FIPS 140-2 validation and NSA B encryption keys.


What should a good quality VPN do?

You should be able to rely on your VPN to perform one or more of the following tasks. The VPN itself should also be protected against compromise. These are the important features you should expect from a comprehensive VPN solution:

  • Encryption of your IP address: The primary job of a VPN is to hide your IP address from your ISP and other third parties. This allows you to send and receive information online without the risk of anyone but you and the VPN provider seeing it.
  • Encryption of protocols: A VPN should also prevent you from leaving traces of data. For example:  internet history, search history, and tracking cookies. The encryption of cookies is especially important because it prevents unauthorized users from gaining access to confidential information such as personal data, financial information, and other content.
  • Kill switch: If your VPN connection is suddenly interrupted, your secure connection will also be interrupted. A good VPN can detect this sudden downtime and terminate preselected programs, reducing the likelihood that data is compromised.
  • Two factor authentication (2FA): By using a variety of authentication methods, a strong VPN checks everyone who tries to log in. For example, you might be prompted to enter a password, after which a code is sent to your mobile device. This makes it difficult for uninvited third parties to access your secure connection.
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