Are VPNs Safe? Do I Really Have Privacy?

Photo by Jason Dent on Unsplash

You may have packed your bags (and passport! whoop whoop) for a vacation or a change of scenery and you are always browsing on the go. I mean, not that your internet crave is over the roof or nothing, just that you need to be kept updated at all times given that you are in a different territory.

You don’t keep in mind that your internet service provider may be weak or not accepted in your new area and when you arrive; you are stranded. This is where the VPN comes into play; I know you have a billion questions on what the heck VPN stands for, this article will serve as a guide to define the term, cases it’s used, how it can be installed and of course, its history.
So, before you book that flight, honey, grab a drink and walk with me. It’s going to be worth every step.

What Does VPN Stand for?

The term VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, meaning that they encrypt your internet traffic and disguise your online identity (otherwise known as Internal Protocol address). This process makes it quite difficult for third parties or security personnel to track your identities online.

History of VPN
A past Microsoft employee in 1996 created a point-to-point tunnelling protocol (PPTP), which created a more secure and private connection between a computer and the internet. When the internet took off (about 1983), there was no such thing as PPTP, only Transfer Control Protocol or Internetwork Protocol (TCP/IP) and there was a demand for more sophisticated security systems. Programs like antivirus and related software, which were quite effective, were out there but people and businesses needed something more and that was when VPN came into place.

TYPES OF VPN

1. Site to Site VPN:
   This type of VPN works like an extranet whereby multiple users in different locations can connect and access each other’s resources. An example can be seen in the life of Drew, who works in a Seoul branch of a big company. He collaborates with different co-workers from different locations around the world and they are working on a certain project. They can work efficiently because of the site-to-site VPN they are using in the Seoul branch. Also, knowns as Router-to-Router VPN, it is called extranet based VPN when an office wants to connect to the office of another company; whilst when multiple offices of the same company are connected using site-to-site, it’s called intranet-based VPN.
2. Remote access VPN:
   Quite similar to the site-to-site VPN, the remote assess works like an intranet where users connect to a private network and access its services remotely. Another example can be seen in the life of Jessica, who works in a big company similar to Drew. She and her colleagues get work by connecting to the VPN stationed for the office. It is also useful for home users; they are easy to set up and also hassle-free.

TYPES OF PROTOCOLS

1. Open VPN: This is an open-source protocol that allows developers to assess the underlying code. It’s one of the most important VPN protocols users can use to protect their data using the unbreakable AES-256-bit key encryption, with 2048-bit RSA authentication and a 160-bit SHA1 hash algorithm.
2. Internet Key Exchange v2: this is a common VPN tunnelling protocol that handles request and response actions. It’s normally paired with IPsec for encryption and authentication reasons. It was developed by Cisco and its successor to IKEv1. It’s responsive for establishing a secure tunnel your connection between a VPN client and the VPN server.
3. Internet Protocol Security (IPSec): it’s used in securing internet communication across an IP network. It has two types:
   i. Transport mode which encrypts the message in the data packet
   ii. Tunnelling mode which encrypts the whole package.
4. PPTP: this stands for Point-to-Point Tunnelling and was developed by Gurdeep Singh-Pall in 1996 and is one of the oldest protocols in existence. It has been in use since the time of Windows95 and is also supported on Linus and Mac. It’s outdated and is not recommended to use in a consumer VPN.
5. SSTP: This VPN protocol comes with a benefit- it’s been fully integrated with every Microsoft OS since Windows Vista Service Pack 1. The SSTP is an effective VPN for bypassing censorship and is also reasonably fast.