What is VPN in simple words. VPN - what is it, server setup

Imagine a scene from an action-packed movie in which the villain escapes the crime scene along the highway in a sports car. He is being pursued by a police helicopter. The car enters a tunnel that has several exits. The helicopter pilot does not know which exit the car will appear from, and the villain escapes the chase.

VPN is a tunnel connecting many roads. No one from the outside knows where the cars entering it will end up. No one from the outside knows what is happening in the tunnel.

You've probably heard about VPN more than once. Lifehacker also talks about this thing. Most often, a VPN is recommended because using the network you can access geo-blocked content and generally increase security when using the Internet. The truth is that accessing the Internet through a VPN can be no less dangerous than directly.

How does a VPN work?

Most likely, you have a Wi-Fi router at home. Devices connected to it can exchange data even without the Internet. It turns out that you have your own private network, but in order to connect to it, you need to be physically within reach of the router’s signal.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a virtual private network. It runs on top of the Internet, so you can connect to it from anywhere.

For example, the company you work for may use a virtual private network for remote workers. Using a VPN, they connect to their work network. At the same time, their computers, smartphones or tablets are virtually transferred to the office and connected to the network from the inside. To log into a virtual private network, you need to know the VPN server address, login and password.

Using a VPN is quite simple. Typically, a company installs a VPN server somewhere on a local computer, server, or data center, and connects to it using a VPN client on the user device.

Nowadays, built-in VPN clients are available in all current operating systems, including Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux.

The VPN connection between the client and the server is usually encrypted.

So VPN is good?

Yes, if you are a business owner and want to secure corporate data and services. By allowing employees into the work environment only through a VPN and using accounts, you will always know who did and is doing what.

Moreover, the VPN owner can monitor and control all traffic that goes between the server and the user.

Do your employees spend a lot of time on VKontakte? You can block access to this service. Does Gennady Andreevich spend half his working day on sites with memes? All his activity is automatically recorded in logs and will become an ironclad argument for dismissal.

Why VPN then?

VPN allows you to bypass geographic and legal restrictions.

For example, you are in Russia and want. We regret to learn that this service is not available from the Russian Federation. You can use it only by accessing the Internet through a VPN server in the country in which Spotify operates.

In some countries, there is Internet censorship that restricts access to certain sites. You want to access some resource, but it is blocked in Russia. You can open the site only by accessing the Internet through a VPN server of a country in which it is not blocked, that is, from almost any country except the Russian Federation.

VPN is a useful and necessary technology that copes well with a certain range of tasks. But the security of personal data still depends on the integrity of the VPN service provider, your common sense, attentiveness and Internet literacy.

The development of mobile Internet technologies has made it possible to fully use phones and tablets for surfing the Internet. Mobile gadgets are used not only to search for necessary information, but with their help: communicate in social communities, make purchases, conduct financial transactions, and work in corporate networks.

But what about a reliable, secure, anonymous Internet connection? The simple answer is to use a VPN.

What is a VPN and why do you need it on your phone?

Technologies that allow you to create a logical network with one or many connections are collectively called Virtual Private Network (abbreviated as VPN). Literally translated, this expression sounds like a virtual private network.

Its essence is to create a secure connection over or inside another network (a kind of tunnel) through which, thanks to the application installed on the gadget, the client can access the VPN server. Within such a connection, all transmitted data is modified, encrypted and protected.

Why have services that provide the opportunity to use such virtual networks become so popular and is it really necessary to have them on a tablet or smartphone?

On tourist and business trips, there is often a need to use the Internet: to log into a mobile office, business correspondence, order and pay for tickets and communicate via Skype, etc. It’s convenient to check your email, analyze quotes, and study the news using the device at hand. But for this you have to resort to Wi-Fi, which is now free in many train stations, airports, cafes and hotels.

Of course, the ability to access the Internet anywhere is a useful and convenient thing, but how safe is it? Experts involved in information security claim that through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection you can simply and without much difficulty gain access to all the data located on the gadget.

In this case, choosing VPN services will be the best opportunity to protect the user from theft of his confidential information. However, these virtual networks can be used for more than just security. Their use allows you to access a web resource that is unavailable in a certain region, bypass corporate network restrictions, and so on.

Features of mobile technologies

In order for owners of mobile gadgets to take advantage of these cloud technologies, many VPN servers have been adapted to work with such devices. The communication channels used by smartphones and tablets to access the Internet often change, it could be Wi-Fi, and then a 3G or 4G connection. This greatly complicates the ability of a regular VPN server to maintain a stable connection on a dedicated channel.

This happens because it sees gadgets accessing it from different subnets and IP addresses, which leads to applications installed on the devices losing active connections. To avoid this, special authorization methods began to be used on specially adapted servers equipped with VPN technology. Which make it possible to carry out two-way data transfer from the server to wearable gadgets, where the devices periodically change network settings.

How to properly use VPN capabilities on your phone

There are paid VPN server services and their free analogues. What is better to choose is up to each user to decide individually. If you manage to decide on the choice of service and server, you need to move on to configuration. Nowadays, the most popular mobile gadgets are iPhone and Android devices.

Activating VPN on iPhone

There are two ways to set up your iPhone to use these technologies. The first is to select the most suitable application for this from the App Store and install it. Then perform the following actions:

• Visit the settings section.
• Open the VPN tab and activate it with the slider.
• Then select the installed service.

The second is to configure the VPN manually. To do this, you need to carry out the following manipulations:

• Having entered the settings section of the device, activate the VPN and click on the “add configuration” icon.
• Then select the security type: L2TP, IPSec or IKEv2 and activate the required configuration.
• After that, you should fill in information about the private network settings: a description of the remote identifier, server and fill in the information necessary for registration - nickname, password.
• If you have a proxy server, you should choose based on your preferences whether to use it: automatic or manual.
• By clicking the “Done” button and switching the status slider to the desired position, you can start surfing the Internet.

Now all traffic from the iPhone will go through the VPN.

Setting up a VPN on Android

Here it is much easier to connect the selected VPN service; for this you need to:

• Activate the “Settings” section, where in the “Wireless networks” line click on the inscription: “Advanced”.
• After which, after opening the “VPN” subsection and clicking on the + sign, information about the available protocols for connecting such services will be provided.
• Having selected and saved the required connection, all that remains is to enter and create the credentials necessary for work: login and password.

Of course, the settings for different smartphones may differ, but the basic steps are largely similar.

Conclusion

It’s hard to argue that the use of VPNs in mobile devices is becoming a more and more popular service. Thanks to such services, a lot of opportunities open up for users: when traveling, they have the opportunity not to break away from the work process, knowing that all their data is always protected, while being in another region, gain access to the necessary resources and other preferences.

In this article, we will answer the most frequently asked questions about what a VPN server is, tell you whether a VPN can increase your security, whether you need to use Double VPN and how to check whether a VPN service keeps logs, as well as what modern technologies exist to protect personal information.

VPN is a virtual private network that provides encryption between the client and the VPN server.

The main purpose of a VPN is to encrypt traffic and change the IP address.

Let's figure out why and when this is needed.

Why do you need a VPN?

All Internet providers log the activities of their clients on the Internet. That is, the Internet provider knows which sites you visited. This is necessary in order to provide all information about the violator in case of requests from the police, and also to relieve oneself of all legal responsibility for the user’s actions.

There are many situations when a user needs to protect his personal data on the Internet and gain freedom of communication.

Example 1. There is a business and it is necessary to transmit confidential data over the Internet so that no one can intercept it. Most companies use VPN technology to transfer information between company branches.

Example 2. Many services on the Internet operate on a geo-referenced basis and prohibit access to users from other countries.

For example, the Yandex Music service only works for IP addresses from Russia and the former CIS countries. Accordingly, the entire Russian-speaking population living in other countries does not have access to this service.

Example 3. Blocking certain sites in the office and in the country. Offices often block access to social networks so that employees do not waste working time communicating.

For example, many Google services are blocked in China. If a Chinese resident works with a company from Europe, then there is a need to use services such as Google Disk.

Example 4: Hide visited sites from your ISP. There are times when you need to hide the list of visited sites from your Internet provider. All traffic will be encrypted.

By encrypting your traffic, your ISP won't know what sites you've visited on the Internet. In this case, your IP address on the Internet will belong to the country of the VPN server.

When you connect to a VPN, a secure channel is created between your computer and the VPN server. All data in this channel is encrypted.

With a VPN, you will have freedom of communication and protect your personal data.

The ISP logs will contain a set of different characters. The picture below shows an analysis of the data obtained by a special program.

The HTTP header immediately shows which site you are connecting to. This data is recorded by Internet service providers.

The following picture shows the HTTP header when using a VPN. The data is encrypted and it is impossible to find out which sites you visited.

How to connect to a VPN

There are several ways to connect to a VPN network.

• PPTP is an obsolete protocol. Most modern operating systems have excluded it from the list of supported ones. Disadvantages of PPTP - low connection stability. The connection may fail and unprotected data may leak onto the Internet.
• L2TP (IPSec) connection is more reliable. Also built into most operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and others). It has better reliability compared to PPTP connections.
• SSTP connection was developed relatively recently. It is only supported on Windows, so it is not widely used.
• IKEv2 is a modern protocol based on IPSec. This protocol has replaced the PPTP protocol and is supported by all popular operating systems.
• OpenVPN connection is considered the most reliable. This technology can be flexibly configured and if the connection drops, OpenVPN blocks sending unprotected data to the Internet.

There are 2 data transfer protocols for OpenVPN technology:

• UDP protocol – is fast (recommended for VoiP telephony, Skype, online games)
• TCP protocol – characterized by the reliability of transmitted data (requires confirmation of receipt of the packet). Slightly slower than UDP.

How to set up a VPN

Setting up a VPN connection takes a few minutes and differs in the VPN connection method.

On our service we use PPTP and OpenVPN connections.

Security of working with a VPN program

We will always talk about an integrated approach to security. User security consists of more than just the VPN connection itself. It is important what program you use to connect to the VPN server.

Currently, services offer convenient VPN clients - these are programs that make it easier to set up a VPN connection. We ourselves offer a convenient VPN client. Thanks to such programs, setting up a VPN connection takes no more than 1 minute.

When we first started providing VPN services in 2006, all of our users set up the official OpenVPN application. It is open source. Of course, setting up an official OpenVPN client takes longer. But let's figure out what is better to use in terms of anonymity.

VPN client anonymity

We see the danger in using such programs. The thing is that the source code of such programs is the property of the company and in order to preserve the uniqueness of its program, no one publishes it.

Users cannot find out what data the program collects about you in the absence of open source code.

A VPN program can identify you as a specific user even if the logs on the server are turned off.

Any program can have the functionality to record the sites you have visited and your real IP address. And since you enter your login into the program yourself, it is impossible to talk about any anonymity in using the program at all.

If your activity requires a high level of anonymity, we recommend that you abandon such VPN programs and use the official open source OpenVPN release.

At first you will find this inconvenient. But over time, you will get used to it if the factor of security and anonymity comes first for you.

We guarantee that Secure Kit does not store any data about you. But we must warn you that such programs can spy on you.

Another idea on how to increase your security came from the point of view of the geographical location of servers. On the Internet it is called an offshore VPN.

What is an offshore VPN

Different countries have different levels of legislation. There are strong states with strong laws. And there are small countries whose level of development does not allow for information security of data in their country.

Initially, the concept of offshore was used to designate a country in which tax policy was relaxed. Such countries have very low business taxes. Global companies have become interested in legal tax avoidance in their country, and offshore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands have become very popular.

Currently, many countries around the world already have bans on the use of bank accounts in offshore countries.

Most offshore countries are small states located in remote corners of the planet. Servers in such countries are more difficult to find and are more expensive due to the lack of developed Internet infrastructure. VPN servers in such countries began to be called offshore.

It turns out that the word offshore VPN does not mean anonymous VPN, but only speaks of territorial affiliation with an offshore state.

Should you use an offshore VPN?

An offshore VPN offers additional benefits in terms of anonymity.

Do you think it’s much easier to write an official request:

• to a police department in Germany
• or to the Islands Police Department in Antigua Barbuda

Offshore VPN is an additional layer of protection. An offshore server is good to use as part of a Double VPN chain.

There is no need to use only 1 offshore VPN server and think that this is complete security. You need to approach your security and anonymity on the Internet from different angles.

Use an offshore VPN as a link to your anonymity.

And it's time to answer the most frequently asked question. Can an anonymous VPN service keep logs? And how to determine whether the service keeps logs?

Anonymous VPN service and logs. What should I do?

An anonymous VPN service should not keep logs. Otherwise, it can no longer be called anonymous.

We have compiled a list of questions, thanks to which you can accurately determine whether the service keeps logs.

Now you have complete information about VPN connections. This knowledge is enough to make yourself anonymous on the Internet and make the transmission of personal data secure.

New VPN technologies

Are there any new trends in the VPN space?

We have already talked about the pros and cons of sequential cascading VPN servers (Double, Triple, Quad VPN).

To avoid the disadvantages of Double VPN technology, you can make a parallel cascade of chains. We called it Parallel VPN.

What is Parallel VPN

The essence of Parallel VPN is to direct traffic to a parallel data channel.

The disadvantage of sequential cascading technology (Double, Triple, Quad VPN) is that on each server the channel is decrypted and encrypted into the next channel. Data is consistently encrypted.

There is no such problem with Parallel VPN technology, since all data undergoes double parallel encryption. That is, imagine an onion that has several peels. In the same way, data passes through a channel that is double encrypted.

For today, it would be useful to consider a few questions related to VPN - what it is, what its features are and how it is configured.

The fact is that many people today do not know anything about this technology, although now such knowledge can be very useful.

Even if you look at it from a mercantile point of view, setting up a VPN costs very good money.

Therefore, it would be good to explain in simple terms what a VPN is and how you can set up this technology on Windows 7 and Windows 10, the most popular operating systems at the moment.

Basic information

In general, VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, that is, a virtual private network.

To put it simply, this is a technology that allows, but not using physical devices such as switches and routers, but using Internet resources.

Essentially, a VPN creates one local network on top of another.

On the Microsoft website you can find the picture shown in Figure 1. There you can clearly see what is meant in the phrase “creates one local network on top of another.”

In practice, this is exactly what happens.

In this picture you can see devices in the form of computers. The cloud implies a shared or public network, most often this is the most common Internet.

The two servers are connected to each other using a VPN.

Moreover, these devices are also physically connected to each other. But in practice this is not at all necessary.

This is precisely why the technology in question is needed - not to use cables and devices, but to make do with conventional technologies that transmit information.

Yes, they also require cables, but they are not required for a specific VPN device.

Reference: A local network is the connection of several devices into one network, which allows them to use each other’s resources.

As mentioned above, in physical local networks, devices are connected to each other using optical cables, twisted pairs, radio channels, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, as well as various devices such as routers.

So, in virtual networks, instead of all this, the most common Internet connection is used.

Of course, access to various devices is not granted just like that; they have their own levels of identification, which are aimed at “not letting strangers” into a particular VPN network.

Now let's talk in more detail about how the connection occurs in a Virtual Private Network.

A little about the structure

There are two parts to a VPN structure: internal and external.

Each individual computer is connected to both of these parts simultaneously. This is done using a server.

The server in this case acts as a kind of face control at the entrance to the club. It determines who logs into the virtual network and who goes to seek their fortune elsewhere.

The computer that connects to the VPN must have authentication data with it, that is, some kind of one-time password, smart card or other means that will allow you to go through this procedure.

For us this is not particularly important, it is important that there is an authentication process at all.

Today, specialists from various large companies are developing new authentication methods.

If we return to the same example with face control at the entrance to the club, then the person who comes to the club should know:

1. Firstly, his name, which will allow him to go through the identification process;
2. Secondly, he needs to know, for example, a one-time password, which is needed to pass authorization.

In exactly the same way, a computer that comes and wants to join one of the VPN networks “carries” with it its name with a means of authorization.

The server enters the above information into its database, in particular, the name of the connected computer.

In the future, “face control” will no longer require the incoming “client” to provide his data.

In principle, it should now be clear how VPNs work and what they are.

In fact, in practical application everything is much more complicated and, if you want to become a network specialist, you will need to know quite a lot of information.

In particular, this information concerns types of VPNs.

VPN classification

The full classification of this type of technology is shown in Figure No. 2.

Now let's look at each type of classification in more detail.

The classification criteria are:

• Degree of protection. According to this criterion, there are such networks:

1. Fully protected– based on inherently secure networks;
2. “Trustedly” protected– lower degree of security, used when the “parent” network has a sufficient degree of reliability.

• Method of implementation. According to this criterion, the following types of networks are distinguished:

1. By hardware, that is, using real devices (this type still deviates a little from the canons of a classic virtual network, which does not use all kinds of devices);
2. By software;
3. Combined method.

• Purpose. Within this criterion, there are the following types of VPN:

1. Intranet– most often used in companies where several branches are united;
2. Extranet– used for organizing networks where there are not only internal corporate participants, but also clients;
3. Remote Access– used to organize networks in which there are remote branches (most often these branches are staffed by one person remotely).

• According to the protocol. Although it is possible to implement VPN using protocols such as IPX and AppleTalk, in practice only TCP/IP is used. The reason is very simple - this particular protocol is used everywhere on the Internet and developers simply don’t see the point in “reinventing the wheel”.
• By level of work. Here everything corresponds to the classic OSI model, but VPN works only at the data link (transferring information over channels), network (providing a connection) and transport (providing data transfer) levels.

Of course, in practice, one network embodies several classification features at once.

Now let's move on directly to how to set up a VPN network using a very ordinary computer.

Setting up a virtual network

First, let's understand how this is done on Windows 7.

On this operating system, configuration occurs using the following relatively simple steps:

• Open the “Network and Sharing Center”. To do this, right-click on the network connection icon in the quick access panel and select the appropriate item from the drop-down menu.

• It is worth saying that the network connection icon may not look the same as shown in Figure 3. It can also have the appearance that can be seen in Figure 4.

• In the window that opens, you need to click on the item called “Setting up a new connection or network” (highlighted in Figure No. 5).

• In the window that opens, you need to select the “Connect to a workplace” item and click the “Next” button (highlighted in Figure No. 6).

• If any VPN connections already exist on this computer, the window shown in Figure 7 will appear. In it you need to select the item “No, create a new connection” and again click the “Next” button.

• In the window that appears, click on the “Use my Internet connection (VPN)” item. There is no Next button here. There's nothing wrong with that.

• Now you will need to enter the address and name of the VPN network. As the window for creating a connection in Windows 7 suggests, you can find out about it from your network administrator.

If you are joining an existing network, you need to ask the administrator for this information. Usually this is not difficult.

They are entered into the fields highlighted in Figure 9.

• In the same window, you need to check the box next to “Do not connect now...”, and then click the “Next” button.

• Now all that remains is to enter the login and password for the corresponding network. The fields for this are highlighted in Figure 10.

If you are connecting to the network for the first time, you will have to create this data, after which the server will check it and, if it matches, “allow” it to enter the network, and you will be able to use it immediately.

If the connection is not happening for the first time, the server will not check them, but will immediately “let them” into the network.

• After entering the appropriate data, you just need to click the “Connect” button.

• Next, a window will appear asking you to connect to the connected network right now. But it’s better to close this window by clicking on the corresponding button highlighted in Figure 11.

Now the setup is complete and all that remains is to connect to the created network. To do this, you need to go to the “Network and Sharing Center” again.

• In the window that opens, select the “Connect to network” item, highlighted in Figure 12.

• In it, all you have to do is select the created connection and click the button highlighted in the same figure.

So, we already know how to set up a VPN connection on Windows 7.

As for Windows 10, the algorithm of actions is almost the same. Only some interface elements and access paths to them may differ.

For example, “Network and Sharing Center” looks almost the same as in Windows 7.

Moreover, there is a very similar item called “Creating and setting up a new connection or network.”

In the future, the setup steps are almost the same, only the interface will be slightly different.

Inconveniences may only occur for those Windows 10 users who do not use the so-called classic view, but the “Control Panel - Home Page” view; you will first need to go to the “Network and Internet” section, and then select “View network status and tasks” "

In any case, there is absolutely nothing complicated in the setup procedure and there cannot be. Interestingly, VPN connection can be used even on Android devices.