VPNs 2022

Why is VPN important and how does it work?

VPN is for that person who cares about his/her security of data. Let me tell you the story of Rachel.She is an entrepreneur in Newyork City. She is going for vacation and waiting at the airport to catch her flight then suddenly she realizes that she missed making important bank payments for their employees. She connects her laptop to the public Wi-Fi at the airport and starts bank transactions. Everything goes well, and Rachel completes her transactions. After a couple of days, she was carried off her feet when she knew that her bank account was exposed to a cyber-attack, and a heavy amount was taken from her account. After getting in touch with the bank, she learned that her account was hacked at the airport. She didn't realize that the public Wi-Fi she used caused her this trouble. Bank officials recommend she need to use a VPN for upcoming bank transactions.So why VPN and how we can use this for our security. VPN stands for Virtual Private network. Its job is to defend and safeguard the secure delivery of data across any public network in the whole world. By doing this permits the user to send data as if they were straight connected to that private network.

Overview of VPN;

A VPN is frequently described as a channel or tunnel. Your data is encoded and encrypted before it passes through the public Internet. This way, if one of the hackers does get their hands on your data, they won't be able to make any sense of it. Once we receive our data, it can be decoded or decrypted using a singular or unique key so it can be read as normal.

How VPN works for any organization;

Let's say we are a big tech giant company and have a head office in Lahore. Now, our head office is where all of our business-critical servers and applications are placed. Also, we have a smaller subdivision office in Islamabad. The subdivision office also needs access to our business-critical servers and applications which are based in Lahore. So, there will be different connectivity options available for us. For example, we might use a private MPLS if you don’t know about Multiprotocol Label Switching, or MPLS, let me tell you it is a networking technology that routes traffic using the direct network. As per any person’s need, it’s a good option. However, it’s costly. The public Internet is full of wicked guys or in common language, I meant by hackers and these hackers are just waiting to get their hands on our company's data. So how can we get rid of this serious issue? There is one solution and that is, to use VPN.

VPN services fall into 4 main types:
Personal VPNs, Remote access VPNs, Mobile VPNs, and Site-to-Site VPNs.

Personal VPN;

A personal VPN service connects you to a VPN server and acts as a distributor between your device and the online services you want to access.Personal VPN sometimes also called a ‘consumer’ VPN also encrypts our connection, hides our identity online, and lets us take off our current location.

Mobile VPN;

Some tech guys say mobile VPN is a better option than a remote access VPN if the user is doubtful to have a steady connection, on the same network, for the full session.With a mobile VPN, the VPN connection perseveres even if the user switches his/her Wi-Fi, loses connectivity, or switches their device off for a while.

Site-to-Site VPNs:
The one you are reading here is known as a site-to-site VPN. This VPN connects one whole site to another entire site and it's always dynamic, meaning it's always on. A site-to-site VPN needs to be configured or organized on both networks, so it's perfect for situations like this when you have multiple remote sites.

Remote access VPNs;
Let’s assume you may have individual users that work from home or anywhere else in the whole world. These users still require access to the business network, but a site-to-site VPN will not work because you have no control over the networks, they're just connecting so in this case what will you do? The answer is we can use the additional type of VPN. This is called a remote access VPN. A remote-access VPN grant and contribute access to the business network, but only for one device not multiple. This is different and unlike the site-to-site VPN, which links to entire networks.

Some Pros and Cons Of VPN

Pros:
i- VPN ensures your privacy and secrecy as your online data and internet traffic gets encoded
ii- If you are looking for specific content or a website, VPN unblock all types of restricted content
iii- VPN instantly change your online location to any exact region to get access to local content
iv- VPN Upgrade and enhance your online security as it masks your real IP address

Cons:
i- Using VPN may reduce the connection speed of your WIFI
ii- By VPN unrestricted access to content may require some physical monitoring, like for kids
iii- Most the VPNs may fail to work against the anti-VPN technology of your system
iv- Free VPNs do not offer better online secrecy

VPN is compulsory for every person who cares about security and his/her data. VPN is an effective tool these days to protect any delicate data from the access of hackers. Using a VPN blocks off your data, stream from cautious & deliberate spying gives you a higher level of secrecy and safety.