One Article Review
| Source |  AlienVault Blog |
|---|---|
| Identifiant | 1235063 |
| Date de publication | 2019-07-31 13:00:00 (vue: 2019-07-31 16:00:27) |
| Titre | The ultimate guide to VPN encryption, protocols, and ciphers |
| Texte |
Introduced to the market nearly two decades ago, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are a uniquely enduring cornerstone of modern security. Most large organizations still employ a VPN solution to facilitate secure remote access, while millions of consumers rely on similar products to bolster their online privacy, secure public Wi-Fi connections, and circumvent site blocks.
By now, most of us know that a VPN assigns us a new IP address and transmits our online traffic through an encrypted tunnel. But not all VPNs are created equally. Depending on the protocol in use, a VPN might have different speeds, capabilities, or even vulnerabilities.
Encryption protocols and ciphers are at the heart of VPN technology, determining how your ‘secure tunnel’ is actually formed. Each one represents a different solution to the problem of secure, private, and somewhat anonymous browsing.
Though many of us are aware of how a VPN generally works, it’s common to get lost on the fine details of the technology due to the sheer complexity of the subject. This confusion is reinforced by the fact that many VPN providers can be slapdash to the point of misleading when describing the type of encryption that they use.
This article will provide a simple point of reference for those who want to explore the technologies driving their VPN service. We’ll review different types of encryption, the main VPN protocols available, and the common ciphers behind them.
In explaining the confusing array of terms commonly used by VPNs and other security products, you will be in a stronger position to choose the most secure protocol and assess the claims made by VPN providers with a much more critical eye.
Types of encryption
At a very basic level, encryption involves substituting letters and numbers to encode data so that only authorized groups can access and understand it.
We now use powerful algorithms called ciphers to perform encryption and decryption. These ciphers simply denote a series of well-defined steps that can be followed repeatedly. The operation of a cipher usually depends on a piece of auxiliary information called a key; without knowledge of the key, it is extremely difficult – if not impossible – to decrypt the resulting data.
When talking about encryption today, we generally refer to a mixture of cipher and key-length, which denotes the number of ‘bits’ in a given key. For example, Blowfish-128 is the Blowfish cipher with a key length of 128 bits. Generally speaking, a short key length means poor security as it is more susceptible to violation by brute-force attacks.
A key length of 256 bits is the current ‘gold standard’. This cannot be brute-forced as it would take billions of years to run through all the possible bit combinations. There are a few key concepts in the world of encryption:
Symmetric-key
This is where the key for encryption and decryption is the same, and both communicating parties must possess the same key in order to communicate. This is the type of encryption used in VPN services.
Public-key
Here, software is used to create sets of public and private keys. The public key is used to encrypt data, which is then sent to the owner of the private key. They then use this private key to decrypt the messages.
Handshake encryption (RSA)
Securely connecting to a VPN server requires the use of public-key encryption through a TLS handshake. While a cipher secures your actual data, this handshake secures your connection.
This is typically done through the |
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| Tags | Guideline |
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