Hey it's Clint Garrett Ace Networker and I wanted to present a short introduction to VPN
Virtual Private Network, what it is, why it's needed, how it's used
So if you were fully aware of the multiple threats and attacks aimed squarely at your
network (or really any network that you're using or responsible for) you'd probably have an anxiety
attack. But there are different methods to defend a network against those varied attacks and threats
that those of us in the industry refer to as "mitigations" One of those multiple mitigation
methods is setting up a VPN Virtual Private Network for remote users on your network.
So what is a VPN? So as a short introduction to VPN Virtual Private Network we're going to look
at what a VPN is. Essentially when you set up a VPN you're creating a network using public lines
(the Internet) to transfer encrypted information between a client and a private network securely.
In most cases (not all) a VPN is a mitigation method used for remote users to safely connect
to your network using an encryption. The data is encrypted when sent over the public network and
decrypted when the data is received on the other end. This provides a dedicated secure link between
two points over the internet using what's known as a "tunnel" How do you set up a VPN? Generally
a VPN requires some form of VPN device on your network that authenticates requests from client
computers out on the internet or the public network. Now these devices come in many forms
and you will see a VPN device sometimes included in a hardware firewall or sometimes included in
a firewall software application that you would set up on a server to function as a firewall.
You can also see this found on some of the newer technology routers that you're seeing out here
on different Enterprise-level networks. But more often than not you will see a VPN device that's
set up by itself strictly for handling the VPN connections. A client computer will then have some
form of software application that connects to the VPN device or a server across the internet. Once
the connection is made and the user and device has been authenticated, the VPN device allows the
system access to the internal network as if the remotely connected computer were sitting on a desk
inside the building housing that network, and it encrypts the data as it travels across the
internet, as I mentioned just previously. Since a VPN uses encryption, it allows a
secured communication to remote systems or sites across the public internet providing a simple,
easy and relatively inexpensive method for WAN connectivity (Wide Area Network). There
are 2 major categories of VPN. Each depends on what the VPN is being used for. The first is an
access VPN - this is where VPN is used most often. An access VPN is used to support a SOHO (a Small
Office/Home Office). In most cases in an access VPN the PC at the home encrypts packets it sends
out effectively encrypting everything and then creating a tunnel from the PC to the VPN device
on the actual network. The second type of VPN is a Site-to-Site Intranet VPN. Now a Site-to-Site
Intranet VPN works just a little differently connecting sites to the central office instead
of individual systems. A VPN device is installed at the central office and the tunnel is created
to a router at branch office locations. Packets travel inside the intranet unencrypted but are
encrypted as they leave the site for the central office over these VPN connections. In either case,
VPNs can be an extremely effective method for protecting against outside reconnaissance
attacks and they are highly recommended to allow additional mobility for users on a network in a
company or business or organization that needs that mobility, that needs to be able to have
remote users connecting securely over an encrypted connection. Now in upcoming videos, we're going to
get into other remote and secured connections both old and new like RAS (Remote Access Service), PPP
which is known as Point-to-Point Protocol, PPoE (that's Point-to-Point over Ethernet),
PPTP (which is Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol), SLIP (which was Serial Line Internet Protocol) and
GRE (which is Generic Route Encapsulation). So be sure to stay tuned for those soon...