BN305 Virtual Private Networks: Exploring Technologies & Security

This report provides an overview of Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology, tracing its history back to 1996 and the development of PPTP. It highlights the use of VPNs for secure data transmission over public networks, emphasizing their role in establishing secure point-to-point connections and data encryption. The report also addresses the challenges and drawbacks of VPN implementation, including the need for advanced technical understanding and potential security vulnerabilities in wireless connections. It further explores the scope of VPNs in reducing security breaches and unauthorized network access, along with future research areas such as open-source projects, protocol obfuscation, and network access control. The report concludes by emphasizing the growing importance of VPNs and their potential to replace traditional firewalls, while also noting the current limitations related to network security understanding and configuration.

Virtual
Private
network

History and background
The history of VPN (virtual private network)
technology dates back to 1996, when a
Microsoft employee developed the peer-to-
peer tunnelling protocol, or PPTP.
It also prevents the access from geo
restriction area and make sure authenticated
connection is established [1]. It is created so
that secure point to point connection is
established and assures that data is
encrypted.

Virtual private networks us used to secure the transactions
that take place over the network

One of the approach that is used for securing the data
packets in tunnelling [2].

Continued
Virtual private network can be said as an
extended private network that allows
users to send and receive the information
through public networks [2]. They are
directly connected to private network and
are offers security.

Challenges and drawbacks
 Some of the challenges that are faced
by organisation is due to
implementation of virtual private
network as it requires higher level of
understanding [3].
 Virtual private network sometimes
causes security issues in case of
wireless connection. Thus, it is
important for the IT professionals to
establish a secure solution.

Continued
 It offers drawbacks like complexity in
setting up the network and controlling the
entire business through a VPN hosted
network. Thus, to meet the standards this
requires a reliable internet service provider.
Virtual private networks have gained
popularity but still there exists a little
limitation as it requires a detailed
understanding of network security so that
configurations could be done easily.

Scope
The scope of VPN is that in reduces the
risk of security breaches and cybercrimes
The scope of VPN is that in ensures that
unauthorised users do not access the
internal networks of an organisation [4].
The use of virtual private networks is to
be controlled by one time password and it
also forces all traffic to and from the PC to
tunnels.

Future research areas
Some of the research areas of VPN are:
 Researches in Open source projects.
 Researches related to Protocol obfuscation.
 Scientists are working on Authentication through
Anonymous tokens.
 Researchers are concentrating on Network
Access Control [3].
 Complete VPN client automation are being
tested.
 Multi-factor authentication is getting found out.

Future Works
VPNs have become much more common
from last year and will occupy a huge
place in the next 10-15 years. There work
same as firewalls but it the coming time
everyone will switch from firewalls to VPN
[4].

Continue
In the coming years it is predicted that VPNs will
focus on Network Access Control, assessing the
connecting device to determine if it is in the right
state to connect.

Conclusion
Virtual private networks have gained
popularity but still there exists a little
limitation as it requires a detailed
understanding of network security so that
configurations could be done easily. The
reliability and performance is not under
the control of organisation