Virtual Private Network

A Virtual private network is a network that uses a public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the internet, to provide remote office es or individual users with secure access to their organization’s network.  A virtual private network can be contrasted with an expensive system of owned or leased lines That can only be used by one organization.  The goal of a VPN is to provide the organization with the same capabilities, but at a much lower cost.

A VPN work s by using the shared public infrastructure while maintaining privacy through security procedures and tunneling protocols such as the Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP).

In effect, the protocols, by encryption data at the sending end and decrypting I at the receiving end, send he data through a “tunnel” that cannot be “entered” by data that is not properly encrypted.  An additional level of security involves encrypting not only the data, but also the originating and receiving network addresses.