Basic Concept
VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a well-known abbreviation among regular Internet users. Initially, VPNs were used in enterprises to connect networks securely. Currently, it is used by the industrial IoT industry to encrypt data transmission environments. For example, industrial routers generally have Virtual Private Network transmission functions.
A Virtual Private Network protects users’ privacy and prevents ISPs and government agencies from tracking their online activities, such as those who attempt to capture the transactions of users performing illegal file sharing of movies, music albums, torrenting, and even attempts to access geo-restricted content, Hulu, and Other streaming services.
À medida que as ameaças à segurança na Internet aumentam exponencialmente, os riscos são os mesmos, independentemente do dispositivo utilizado (quer seja um PC, MAC, tablet, iPhone, dispositivo Android ou smartphone). Cada um destes dispositivos pode ser rastreado e a sua localização exacta pode ser conhecida com pouco esforço.
Access the internet without a Virtual Private Network
The figure below shows a typical user accessing the Internet without a Virtual Private Network. A user’s IP address is assigned by the ISP and is visible to the Internet. ISPs and anyone monitoring a user’s IP address can fully see any online resource the user visits:
É claro que recursos como o Internet Banking geralmente encriptam os dados transmitidos entre o cliente e o servidor, mas a origem (IP do utilizador) e o destino (IP do servidor) do tráfego continuam a ser totalmente visíveis. Da mesma forma, outras actividades, como os downloads de torrents, também podem ser totalmente rastreadas até ao utilizador.
É de notar também que os ISP mantêm sempre ficheiros de registo dos endereços IP dos seus utilizadores. Isto indica, até certo ponto, que os ISP têm um conhecimento profundo dos endereços IP atribuídos a cada utilizador. Por lei, os registos são armazenados durante vários anos e podem ser utilizados como prova em processos judiciais ou inquéritos. Isto aplica-se tanto a utilizadores domésticos como móveis.
Virtual Private Network Service Provider Shared IP VS Dedicated IP
When you connect to a Virtual Private Network service provider, you are usually assigned a shared IP address, that is, an IP address that many users use together. While using a shared IP address may not sound ideal, it actually does increase anonymity compared to using a dedicated IP address that is only assigned to your Virtual Private Network account.
When accessing an IP-restricted server or website, a dedicated IP address is generally required. Running a website or FTP server outside of a Virtual Private Network service provider is also a reason to use a dedicated IP address.
For most Virtual Private Network users who perform temporary web browsing, downloading, file sharing and require anonymous browsing capabilities, sharing IP addresses is considered a safe option.
The impact of a Virtual Private Network on your mobile device’s speed, battery, or computer
Quality of Virtual Private Network client software
Just like any software, a well-designed Virtual Private Network application can run without problems and limit its use of system resources. There are some Virtual Private Network providers that offer very cheap subscriptions, however, their Virtual Private Network client software may be buggy, resulting in frequent crashes or taking a long time to respond to user operations.
Virtual Private Network encryption algorithm
Your Virtual Private Network client offers many Virtual Private Network encryption options, each of which will provide you with different levels of security. Higher levels of encryption (such as L2/IPSec) mean better security, however, due to the complexity of strong encryption protocols, you will be required to work harder to encrypt and decrypt traffic, which will then tax the device’s CPU. of loss.
Por outro lado, a escolha de um protocolo de encriptação mais fraco (como o PPTP) significa que os requisitos de CPU serão reduzidos, mas também a segurança fornecida.
Newer protocols, like OpenVPN, combine the best of both worlds and provide fast, secure Virtual Private Network service at minimal cost to your CPU. It is generally recommended to use OpenVPN.
Protocolo VPN
As mentioned earlier, Virtual Private Network uses different encryption protocols to protect the connection between the end user and the Virtual Private Network server. Choosing the best VPN protocol is important, so let’s discover the most commonly supported encryption protocols used by Virtual Private Network providers:
PPTP-Point-to-Point Tunnel Protocol (Protocolo de túnel ponto-a-ponto). Os antigos protocolos VPN leves ainda são populares, mas não são muito seguros. Ideal para streaming e necessidades básicas de VPN, mas não para torrenting.
● L2TP/IPSec – Layer 2 native protocol and IP security. The development of PPTP has provided better security and encryption, but at the expense of speed.
● SSTP – Secure Socket Tunnel Protocol. Microsoft’s sensitive encryption based on SSL. Good alternative to L2TP/IPSec, but not as good as OpenVPN.
OpenVPN - um protocolo VPN de código aberto mais recente com excelente segurança, flexibilidade e compatibilidade. Suportado pelo firmware do router (como o DD-WRT, Tomato, etc.).
● More servers means better distribution of Virtual Private Network users. This somewhat bodes well for faster server speeds and fewer users per Virtual Private Network server.
● Higher service availability. If one or more servers go down, you will have many other servers to connect to, thus limiting the impact on your Virtual Private Network service.
● Access geo-restricted content in every country that has a Virtual Private Network server for you to connect to.
● Ability to connect to Virtual Private Network servers close to the source you are trying to access, thus providing better download/upload speeds.
Users should be aware that not all encryption protocols provide the same level of security and performance. For example, PPTP is an older VPN protocol that does not actually encrypt information, but merely encapsulates the user’s data. Think of it as placing a letter (data) inside a specification envelope. Envelopes are lightweight so you can carry more envelopes in a given time period (high functionality/throughput).
Although PPTP offers less security, it is popular because not many people understand the level of security it offers and because it has successfully penetrated the market over the past 15 years and is still supported by newer VPN devices and servers. It is still widely used today.
O L2TP/IPSec, por outro lado, é uma evolução do PPTP e foi introduzido como outro protocolo VPN mais seguro. Oferece uma segurança significativamente mais elevada, mas o protocolo é mais lento, o que, em certa medida, implica um custo mais elevado.
SSTP is a Microsoft proprietary protocol found on all Windows operating systems since Windows Vista Service Pack 1. SSTP is preferable to PPTP and L2TP because it can pass through most firewalls without problems (requires TCP port 443), while PPTP and L2TP/IPSec may not pass through firewalls because they use uncommon ones that are usually blocked by corporate or guest networks. TCP/UDP port.
Ultimately, OpenVPN is the preferred VPN protocol by far. This is an open source (free distribution) newer technology supported by almost all devices and Virtual Private Network service providers. It’s flexible, offers excellent security, has moderate CPU requirements, and can run in almost any environment that can get through a firewall without issue.
Additionally, our company’s routers support OpenVPN, allowing users to connect to their Virtual Private Network provider at the router level without using any Virtual Private Network client software on the device connected to their home or business network.
Using the correct Virtual Private Network encryption protocol is important as it will greatly impact the security provided as well as your upload/download speeds.