The ABC's of VPN's
Whether it’s sitting in an airport lounge on public WIFI or connecting business offices together, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a great way to ensure your internet communications remain private.
The easiest way to explain a VPN is to compare it with a subway system.
A subway system is a network of tunnels which contain trains full of riders who need tokens to climb aboard. In comparison with a VPN, the tunnels are paths which allow data to travel between a device and its’ endpoint. The train cars contain packets of data being exchanged between various points of origin. Much like how tokens allow access for riders, encryption keys allow selected users access to the data,
Without access to the tunnel via tokens (encryption keys), all the passengers (your data) can be kept safe from unwanted riders who wish to steal from them.
VPN implementation can be implemented using hardware or software, or a combination of the two. Ever wonder how your friends are accessing the American version of Netflix from North of the Border? Some are using a software VPN setup that connects to a server in the United States (subway destination). Since no one can see inside the tunnel to see where the traffic originates from, it appears to the servers at Netflix that all of the traffic is from a destination server in the US.
This is also a great way to keep your information safe at a public Wi-Fi hotspot such as Starbucks. Simply connect a tunnel to an outside server (the software will provide the server), and all of your traffic remains encrypted, placed in a tunnel, and sent outside the hotspot to a safe destination server where it will then get sent out unencrypted, to where you wanted it to go.
Many businesses use hardware VPN technology to connect employees between various offices. Hardware VPN’s work the same as software implementations, but the work is all done using routers. The routers can be simple or escalate into complex, ever-changing encryption key connection devices. Usually users connecting to the router will have a software implementation like the aforementioned example, while satellite offices will have another VPN router setup with a direct link to the main office. Once again, this setup allows users and satellite offices to have a secure tunnel of communications between host and destination.
In the current climate of technology where even our government is gaining access to private information, VPN’s really make sense. They are relatively inexpensive to set-up and provide peace of mind when using the internet for confidential information.