Most people don’t even need to know how a VPN works and what protocol to choose from.
When you install the VPN app on your computer or your smartphone, you just have to open
it, choose a country, and turn it ON and Viola!
. You now are connected to a VPN server.
By default, most VPN providers, automatically uses the protocol best-suited to your network.
But what if you want more control with your VPN?, like someone might value privacy over
speed and another might want speed to take priority.
Well, the good news is, most VPN providers let you configure your app to use one of other
protocols be it PPTP, L2TP , SSTP or OpenVPN
So, let’s find out what the pros and cons are for each VPN protocol and when to use
them.
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----- PPTP
What is it PPTP or Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
was developed by Microsoft for creating VPN over dial-up networks.
As such, PPTP has long been the standard protocol for corporate VPN networks.
Platform PPTP is easy to set up using the OS built-in
VPN features.
Their clients are built into many platforms, including Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and
even some routers.
So, you don’t need install additional software to setup PPTP.
Encryption However, it’s not worth it.
The protocol is old and vulnerable.
It is not a secure VPN protocol and can be easily decrypted by malicious 3rd parties
in man-in-the-middle attacks.
Firewall PPTP requires both TCP port 1723 and the GRE
protocol, which makes it easy to block PPTP connections.
Bottom line: Avoid.
Only use if absolutely necessary for compatibility.
L2TP
L2TP or Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol is a better version of PPTP.
Platform It’s just as easy and quick to set up as
PPTP, since it’s also built in to almost all modern operating systems.
Encryption L2TP does not provide any encryption on it
own, so it is usually implemented with the IPsec authentication suite.
Which, unlike PPTP, is usually considered secure.
Firewall The problem with L2TP comes with Firewall.
It uses UDP port 500 — that means it’s much easier to block and harder to get around
firewalls with.
Bottom Line L2TP/IPsec is theoretically secure, and easy
to set up.
There are some concerns, that the NSA could have weakened the IPsec standard, but nothing
is confirmed.
Also, it has trouble getting around firewalls.
Overall, I wouldn’t say it’s the best protocol, but if you have to choose between
PPTP and L2TP, definitely use this over PPTP.
SSTP
SSTP aka, Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol, is a proprietary standard owned by Microsoft.
Platform Although it is now available for Linux, and
even Mac OS X, it is still primarily a Windows-only platform.
Encryption Unlike PPTP and L2TP, SSTP uses SSL 3.0 which
means it’s highly secure.
However, since it’s a proprietary protocol, it means that the code is not open to public
and can’t be audited as fully.
Firewall It includes the ability to use to TCP port
443 meaning, it can can bypass most firewalls
Bottomline
SSTP is a proprietary Microsoft protocol, and is best supported on Windows.
Overall, if you have to choose between PPTP, L2TP and SSTP, for a windows computer.
it’s better to use than SSTP.
The encryption is better and can circumvent firewall as well.
IKEv2
Internet Key Exchange version 2 ( or IKEv2) is relatively a new VPN protocol, developed
by Microsoft and Cisco.
Platform You might have not heard much about this protocol,
as it is natively supported by Windows 7 and higher, Blackberry, and iOS devices.
Encryption Like L2TP, IKEv2 is also paired with an authentication
suite such as IPSec, to get encryption feature.
So, if you provider say, IKEv2, it most probably mean, IKEv2/IPsec.
Firewall (no data available)
Bottomline
IKEv2 is not as common as the other protocol on this list, as it is supported on fewer
platforms mostly Windows and iOS.
However, mobile users may still consider it as it good at automatically re-establishing
a VPN connection when users temporarily lose their internet connections.
For example switching between home WiFi and mobile connections, or who regularly move
between hotspots.
OpenVPN
OpenVPN is an open source technology that uses the OpenSSL library,
Platform Unlike PPTP and L2TP which are natively supported
by most platform; to get OpenVPN you’ll have to use third party software.
But most VPN providers have a custom OpenVPN setup guide, so setting it up shouldn’t
be a problem.
We have also done a video on how to setup OpenVPN, which you can see on the YouTube
card as we speed.
Encryption Another reason to use OpenVPN is the strong
encryption, since it support AES, it’s highly secure.
Also, as it’s open source, one can always check the source code and see what’s going
on inside.
Thugs making OpenVPN best for security.
Firewall OpenVPN can also run on TCP port 443, which
is used by regular HTTPS traffic.
Thus making it hard to block.
As there is no way to tell VPN connections apart from the kind of secure connections
used web browser, email services, and online retailers.
Overall
Compared to all the other VPN protocols, OpenVPN is arguably the most secure and versatile
VPN protocol available.It works on every platform, bypass firewall and highly reliable.
Only issue is, you need to know how to set it up, for which you can watch our other video.
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In a nutshell, don’t use PPTP, it’s outdated and insecure unless your not a millenial.
L2TP is fairly easy to implement, and has fairly good encryption with IPsec (theoretically)
but has trouble getting around firewalls.
So, I wouldn't recommend it either.
But it’s definitely better than PPTP
SSTP is much more secure than L2TP, but the downside is, it Mostly works for Windows.
So, the best choice is, OpenVPN.
It’s secure, works on every platform.
Check out, our video on how to setup openvpn on different platforms, by clicking the link
in the description below .
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I’ve been vamsi from Smartdnsproxy and thanks for watching.