VPN (Virtual Private Network) Mobile Technologies

Question: Describe about VPN (Virtual Private Network) for Mobile Technologies. Answer: Aim The aim of this project is to establish VPN connection between two windows server 2012 terminals so that the clients that are connected to the LAN can interact with each other with the help of VPN. Purpose of the technology The purpose of the technology is to create a connection between the two computers over the LAN so that the computers can interact with each other (Opatrny Ness,2014). A VPN or Virtual Private Network is a private network that enables communication between the hosts over the common network. Since the VPN bypasses the internet censorship it is much more secure than other methods. Description and Architecture of the technology The VPN allows an organization to interact over the private network without compromising the security. The VPN provides services like the encryption and encapsulation of the traffic and ensuring the movement of the data packets through intermediate networks (Border Dillon Pardee,2015). Since the data is encrypted while sharing, the transfer of data over the public network makes it impossible to interpret; also the encapsulation of the data packet that is sent over the network ensures the maximum security (Kermarecet al., 2015).Hence it can be understood that the VPN has simplified the user communication and enables point to point connection between the nodes, which makes the roles of the intermediate networks irrelevant as the data delivery is done through the private link. Fig 1: VPN (Virtual Private Network) (Burshan, 2009) Uses and applications of the technology It has been stated in the previous section that the VPN makes the data transfer more secure using the various techniques (Williamset al., 2014). Hence the uses of the technology are widespread, and it can be seen that the present computers come inbuilt with the present computers. The uses of the technology are: Accessing private network form from outside network: The access to the private network is necessary for various reasons. The most common example of such access is access to the business network by businessmen. Accessing home network from outside: The home computer access is sometimes necessary for accessing the various files which is possible with the help of the VPN. Hiding browsing activities from the prying eyes: Every information is recorded in the internet as it is shared by all the computers (Sinha Devarajan Foxhoven, 2013). Hence for securing the various details of internet access, the VPN can be used for it. Accessing the geo blocked sites: Various websites are blocked in the regions depending upon the regional policies and the politics, for access to those sites VPN can be used. Bypassing the internet censoring: Similar to the geo blocked sites the internet censorship is done in various regions of the world and the people cannot access those websites, these constrains can be overcome with the help of VPN. Advantages and disadvantages The advantages of the VPN are many among which the notable advantages are: enhanced security with the help of encryption and encapsulation which is inherent to the system. The remote control ability offered to the user without compromising the security of the system. The VPNs can also be used to share file to various nodes over a long period of time which is very difficult to do over conventional internet (Alshalan Pisharody Huang,2016). The VPN also ensure anonymity over the internet and makes tracking and tracing very difficult. As the tracking and tracing becomes difficult, the websites that are blocked due to regional or political policies can be easily accessed. The security of the VPN is complicated and complex which makes the breach complicated also such complexity need experts for implementation making it a costly proposition. The downtime of the services also plays a vital role and the services should be included in the SLAs (HakimIsmail 2014). The incorporation of the mobile devices to the VPN has introduced loose node which makes the system vulnerable to threats. Description of an alternative technology The most commonly used alternative to the VPNs are the leased line. The leased line can be understood as a cable between two nodes which can offer communication between tem in both the direction i.e. both the nodes can send and receive information from each other. Since leased line do not share the peripherals with each other, it can be termed as a private network that is not connected to the internet. Since the peripherals are not shared, it is most secure mode of communication (Comer, 2015). It should also be noted that the data encryption and data encapsulation is not given much importance to this type of communication. Comparison to other alternative technologies The two technologies that have been presented here are the VPN (Virtual Private Network) and the leased lines which can be seen as physical private network. The name itself shows the basic difference between the two (Edwards Bramante, 2015). The VPN uses the existing internet to create a virtual space with the help of the tool like encryption and encapsulation so that the data that is sent over the network can be made secure and is not compromised. On the other hand the leased line uses a different physical network that ensures the physical security of the data is not compromised. Since the data is not shared over the public network, the data doesnt land into the wrong hands (Sinha Devarajan Foxhoven, 2013). It should be noted that the VPN uses the existing infrastructure which doesnt need extra investment on hardware, but the leased line should be either taken on lease or should be maintained by the stakeholder which makes it an extremely costly proposition. Reference Alshalan, A., Pisharody, S., Huang, D. (2016). A Survey of Mobile VPN Technologies.IEEE Communications Surveys Tutorials,18(2), 1177-1196. Border, J., Dillon, D., Pardee, P. (2015).U.S. Patent No. 8,976,798. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Burshan, C. Y. (2009).U.S. Patent No. 7,568,220. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Comer, D. E. (2015).Computer networks and internets. Prentice Hall. Edwards, J., Bramante, R. (2015).Networking self-teaching guide: OSI, TCP/IP, LANs, MANs, WANs, implementation, management, and maintenance. John Wiley Sons. Hakim, A. H. R. A. A., Ismail, A. K. (2014). A Survey: MOBILE IPV4/IPV6 Fundamentals, Advantages and Disadvantages.International Journal,4(4). 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