VPN (Virtual Private Network)
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) creates an encrypted tunnel between two endpoints over a public or untrusted network, ensuring confidentiality and integrity of data in transit.
VPNs are widely used to provide secure remote access to corporate networks and to connect geographically distributed sites. By encrypting all traffic between the user's device and the VPN gateway, a VPN prevents eavesdropping, tampering, and man-in-the-middle attacks on untrusted networks such as public Wi-Fi.
There are several VPN protocols in common use, including IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard, and SSL/TLS-based solutions. Site-to-site VPNs connect entire networks, while remote access VPNs allow individual users to securely connect to organizational resources. Split tunneling configurations can route only corporate-bound traffic through the VPN, improving performance but potentially introducing security gaps.
Securing a VPN deployment involves using strong encryption algorithms, enforcing multi-factor authentication for connections, keeping VPN software and firmware updated, monitoring for unusual connection patterns, and implementing network access control to verify device compliance before granting access. Organizations should also plan for VPN capacity to avoid bottlenecks during peak usage and consider zero-trust network access alternatives that provide more granular access control than traditional VPN approaches.