McAfee Secure

Describe Basic VPN Technologies

Exam: Cisco 642-902 - Implementing Cisco IP Routing (ROUTE v1.0)

Virtual Private Networks are gaining popularity as enterprises do have the need to grant a remote user access to their network. These remote users can be branch office employees, remote worker at home or any other remote client.

The data to be accessed over Internet is not secure, therefore, a virtual link is created between the between the two end points to have a secure channel over internet. There are two types of VPN named as;

  1. IPSec VPN
  2. SSL VPN

IPSec VPN:

An IPSec VPN tunnel makes uses of creating a dedicated tunnel between the two endpoints. Any traffic travelling between these two endpoints will be encrypted. IPSec VPN makes the remote PC virtually the part of the corporate network and is able to access the entire network easily.

IPSec VPN requires a dedicated software and hardware in place for its implementation. It requires the client software to installed and properly configured for the VPN to work and hence create an additional layer of security.

SSL VPN:

SSL VPN does not require any dedicated client software, they work on web browsers and since SSL is a common protocol so almost all the browsers are equipped with SSL client to connect to SSL VPN.

It provides more granular and controlled access to the users by providing tunnel to the specific application rather than the whole LAN.