What is a VPN and Different Types of VPN (Virtual Private Networking)

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides a secure way to access the Network Resources remotely by using the internet. Businesses, Government organizations, and individuals can benefit from VPNs by enhancing the privacy of sensitive data and thus securing it from hackers and cyber-attacks.

What is a VPN

A VPN creates a private tunnel between your device and the target resources, usually a remote intranet thus providing a security cover to your data communication from a public or shared Network. A remote user, instead of connecting directly to the ISP is connected to a VPN server which creates an encrypted connection.

Even if you are accessing a website or making a transaction on the internet, all your communication is hidden from ISP ( Internet Service Provider ). The ISP will not be able to record logs of your activity over the internet, once you are connected to a VPN service provider.

VPN allows you to access the resources of a remote office the same way as you are working in a local area network by using the internet as a backbone. This has led to increasing not only the security but the productivity of organizations as well.

Types of VPN

Earlier Dial-up connections or leased lines were used for VPN connectivity but these are now replaced by the latest technologies, DSL and Fiber optics. Broadly, the VPN is classified into the following two types.

Remote-access VPN

This type of VPN is used in the corporate world where remote employees have to access the intranet of Main-office. A typical example is a salesperson can fill his sales or funnel report in a centralized application while traveling across the globe or sitting at his home.

Site-to-site VPN

In this type of VPN connection, two or more site locations are linked together to create a virtual cohesive network. An employee in one location can access the resources of other locations and feel like working in a single local area network.

Conclusion

VPNs have played an important role in securing private networks from cyber-attacks. Not only organizations but individuals and home users are accessing the internet using a VPN since apart from premium (paid) services, there are many open sources (free) VPN services available today.