Advantages and Disadvantages of a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPN service is designed to secure connections and used for anonymous access to Internet, access to a closed network from the outside and to join securely multiple ones.

When you use an unsecured connection, such as when you access the Internet via a wireless network, you get an IP address, which can track the location, browser used, pages visited and other information. Thus, it remains possible to monitor the network traffic of the user, to block access to certain domains, the risk of exposing the user’s computer to attacks and breaches. VPN access is able to protect from such. This technology provides connection encryption and anonymous surfing in the Internet, hiding the IP address of the user.

VPN access is also used to access the internal network from outside and access private internal resources.

If the corporate network is divided into multiple segments, merge it by using VPN technology, creating on top of existing networks a shared one where all the participants will be able to access any shared resources.

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Practical application

VPN is widely used for remote work away from the office, to integrate geographically disparate networks, protect their data when connected to the Internet in public Wi-Fi zones. It is also convenient for access to the Internet for comfortable work in places with restrictions of Internet traffic or other limitations of the Internet, if it is available.

How does it work?

VPN is a virtual private network which works by using a series of encryption, authentication and protection. VPN is able to provide user connectivity to a remote network and work with the resources as well as access to the Internet.

When the VPN connection is established a so-called tunnel, which is formed in a non-secure network, which typically is the Internet. A connection is established between two stations, which play the role of nodes. Each node encrypts the data before entering the tunnel and recognizes them after the passage of the tunnel. VPN is able to provide a connection of type:

• node-node,
• node-network  
• network-network.

Each node can connect by tunnels with any number of other nodes. For example, multiple VPN tunnels are created to connect multiple computers to the corporate network. In this case, the VPN node is the gateway, through which all the computers are connected. Such a node can be any workstation on the network. A node may assume the encryption on behalf of the entire network, which in this case is the domain of encryption.