Virtual Private Networks, Second Edition

How VPNs Solve Internet Security Issues

There are several technologies that VPNs use to protect data travelling across the Internet. The most important concepts are firewalls, authentication, encryption, and tunneling. Here we will give them a cursory rundown, then go into more detail in Chapter 2.

Firewalls

An Internet firewall serves the same purpose as firewalls in buildings and cars: to protect a certain area from the spread of fire and a potentially catastrophic explosion. The spread of a fire from one part of a building is controlled by putting up retaining walls, which help to contain the damage and minimize the overall loss and exposure. An Internet firewall is no different. It uses such techniques as examining Internet addresses on packets or ports requested on incoming connections to decide what traffic is allowed into a network.

Although most VPN packages themselves don’t implement firewalls directly, they are an integral part of a VPN. The idea is to use the firewall to keep unwanted visitors from entering your network, while allowing VPN users through. If you don’t have a firewall protecting your network, don’t bother with a VPN until you get one—you’re already exposing yourself to considerable risk.

The most common firewall is a packet filtration firewall, which will block specified IP services (run on specific port numbers) from crossing the gateway router. Many routers that support VPN technologies, such as the Cisco Private Internet Exchange (PIX) and the 3Com/U.S. ...