Internet Security With VPN - Why Do You Need It

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With growing numbers of individuals working remotely in pandemic of Covid-19, telecommuting or traveling with increasing frequency, the traditional business security model continues to evolve. With the advent of widely available high-speed Internet access coupled with VPN technologies; the secure, clearly defined perimeter many organizations like PrivacySharks once enjoyed becomes a bit less distinct.

Virtual Private Networks are implementations of cryptographic technology which is a private and secure network connection because all network traffic between these machines passes through this “virtual” tunnel.

Virtual private networks (VPN) are used by remote clients to securely connect to company networks.

Types of VPNs​

1. WAN VPN – Branch Offices
2. Access VPN – Roaming Offices
3. Extranet VPNs – Suppliers and Customers

To evade the prying eyes of governments, hackers, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the use of a VPN and email encryption is integral. Both of these services encrypt your online data, ensuring that no third parties can see it.

Why VPN​

Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections can be an effective means of providing remote access to a network; however, VPN connections can be abused by an adversary to gain access to a network without relying on malware and covert communication channels.

See more on VPNSurfers to protect yourself from being hacked online.

In the most common implementation, a VPN allows a user to turn the Internet in private network. As you know, the Internet is anything but private. However, using the tunneling approach an individual or organization can set up tunneling points across the Internet and send encrypted data back and forth, using the IP-packet-within-an-IP-packet method to transmit data safely and securely.
A VPN can also be used to ensure the identity of the participating machines.

VPN Security​

• User accounts for VPN connections should be separate from standard user accounts.
• Multi?factor authentication should be used for VPN connections.
• Device authentication ensures that a device establishing a VPN connection is approved for such purposes.
• VPN termination points should be within a DMZ to allow for the proper inspection and auditing of unencrypted VPN traffic prior to entering and leaving a network.
• Devices accessing a network via a VPN connection should disable split tunnelling.
• To prevent unauthorized connection, a whitelist of approved MAC or IP addresses should be implemented.
• Effective logging and log analysis of VPN connections is vital to accounting for activities performed on a network.

A list of famous VPN Tunneling Protocols:​

• GRE: Generic Routing Encaptulation (RFC 1701/2)
• PPTP: Point-to-point Tunneling Protocol
• L2F: Layer 2 forwarding
• L2TP: Layer 2 Tunneling protocol
• ATMP: Ascend Tunnel Management Protocol
• DLSW: Data Link Switching (SNA over IP)
• IPSec: Secure IP
• Mobile IP: For Mobile users

VPN Acronyms:​

No.	Abbreviation	Full Name
1	AAA	Authorization, Accounting, and Auditing
2	AFT	Automatic Firewall Traversal
3	AH	Authentication Header
4	ATMP	Ascend Tunnel Management Protocol
5	AVP	Attribute-Value-Pair
6	CA	Certification Authority
7	CAST	Carlisle Adams and Stafford Tavares
8	CBC	Cipher Block Chaining
9	CERT	Computer Emergency Response Team
10	CFB	Cipher feedback
11	CHAP	Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
12	CRC	Cyclic Redundancy Check
13	DES	Data Encryption Standard
14	DHCP	Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
15	DLSW	Data Link Switching (SNA over IP)
16	DMZ	Demilitarized Zone
17	DNS	Domain Name Service
18	DSA	Digital Signature Authorization
19	DTS	Digital Timestamp Service
20	EAP	Extensible Authentication Protocol
21	ECB	Electronic code blocks
22	ESP	Encapsulating Security Protocol
23	GRE	Generic Routing Encaptulation
24	HTTP	Hypertext Transfer Protocol
25	IDEA	International Data Encryption Standard
26	IETF	Internet Engineering Task Force
27	IKE	Internet Key Exchange
28	IMPs	Interface Message Processor
29	IPSec	Internet Protocol Security
30	IPX	Netware IP
31	IPv4	IP version 4
32	ISAKMP	Association Key Management Protocol
33	ISP	Internet Service Provider
34	IVPN	IP VPN
35	JAVA	Just Another Vague Acronym
36	KMI	Key Management Infrastructure
37	L2F	Layer 2 Forwarding Protocol
38	L2TP	Layer 2 Tunneling protocol
39	LDAP	Lightweight Directory Protocol
40	MAC	Message Authentication Code
41	MD2	Message Digest 2
42	MD4	Message Digest 4
43	MD5	Message Digest 5
44	MPLS	Multiprotocol Label Switching
45	MPPE	Microsoft Point to Point Encryption
46	MS-CHAP	Microsoft CHAP
47	NAS	Network Access Server
48	NAT	Network Address Translation
49	NBS	National Bureau of Standards
50	NDS	Netware Directory Service
51	NIST	National Institute of Science and Technology
52	NSA	National Security Agency
53	NT5	Windows NT 5.0
54	OFB	Output feedback
55	OTP	One-Time Password
56	PAP	Password Authentication Protocol
57	PIX	Private Internet Exchange
58	PKI	Public key infrastructure
59	PPP	Point-to-Point protocol
60	PPTP	Point-to-point Tunneling Protocol
61	RADIUS	Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service
62	RAS	Remote Access Services
63	RC2	Ron’s Code 2
64	RC4	Ron’s Code 4
65	RC5	Ron’s Code 5
66	RFC	Request for Comment
67	RSVP	Resource Reservation Protocol
68	S/WAN	Secure Wide Area Network
69	SHA	Secure Hash Algorithm
70	SKIP	Simple Key Exchange Internet Protocol
71	SNA	System Network Architecture
72	SNMP	Simple Network Management Protocol
73	TACACS	Terminal Access Controller Access System
74	TCP	Transport Control Protocol
75	TLS	Transport Level Security
76	UDP	User Datagram Protocol
77	VPDN	Virtual Private Data Network
78	VPN	Virtual Private Networks
79	WAN	Wide Area Network
80	WFQ	Weighted Fair Queueing
81	WFW	Windows for Workgroup
82	WRED	Weighted Random Early Drop
83	XTACACS	Extended TACACS