A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a secure connection over the Internet between a device and a network. It establishes a digital connection between your computer and a remote server owned by a VPN provider, creating a point-to-point tunnel that encrypts your personal data, hides your IP address and allows you to bypass website blocks and Internet firewalls. This encrypted connection helps ensure that sensitive data is transmitted securely and prevents unauthorized people from listening to traffic. VPN technology is widely used in corporate environments. It allows the user to carry out their work remotely, connecting to the company's internal network from outside the premises via the Internet.
It also provides access to a private network (one that prevents or restricts public access) to users who do not have direct access to it. Site-to-site VPNs are used when the distance makes it impractical to have direct network connections between offices. Microsoft first developed the virtual private network in 1996 as a way for remote employees to securely access the company's internal network. The VPN then sends your data through its “tunnel” so that no one else on the network can spy on and hijack them. We recommend that you use the IKEv2 protocol when running a VPN on your phone whenever possible, as the protocol is fast, secure, and reliable, and you'll stay connected even if you switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data. VPN protection is the closest thing to true anonymity on the Internet without the need to use the Tor network, which means that your connection is transferred through a widely distributed network of voluntary repeaters, basically keeping your web activity constantly moving so that no one can focus on it. A VPN keeps your Internet traffic private and hidden from anyone who wants to spy on what you do online, whether it's your ISP, your employer, your school, network administrators, hackers using public Wi-Fi networks, web crawlers, or government agencies. Instead of relying on a browser to encrypt the communication between the device and the server, the VPN adds its own ciphers and routes the communication through its own servers.
A device that is within a customer's network and is not directly connected to the service provider's network can also be used for VPN protection. Its main function is to allow the service provider to expand its PPVPN offering, for example, by acting as an aggregation point for several PEs. Tunneling protocols can work in a point-to-point network topology; however, in theory they wouldn't be considered a VPN because, by definition, a VPN is expected to support sets of arbitrary and changing network nodes.
