Global network gives us vast opportunities, yet at the same time conceals a lot of dangers both for ordinary users and entire organizations. Security and anonymity often become the cornerstone, neglecting which entails quite unpleasant consequences. Lost funds during currency transactions, hacked accounts, and confidential information disclosed to the public – and this list may go on forever. Unfortunately, software solutions such as anti-virus or firewalls are by their essence unable to spare us from all the risks which we inevitably face when using the Internet.
The data becomes vulnerable due to mostly being transmitted via an unencrypted channel. Antivirus software provides the protection of your computer but not of the transmitted network data, and this feature can be exploited by cybercriminals. Interception of correspondence data in social networks, personal information, browsing history and other information is the unwanted consequence of a poor level of protection.
But there is a solution - data encryption through OpenVPN. OpenVPN technology is one of the versions of VPN (Virtual Private Network) and designed to solve these problems in the cases where traditional protection software is helpless. It uses standard transport level transmission protocols - TCP or UDP.
First, a secure data channel is established between the computer and the VPN server similar to a dedicated one. Then, a Peer-to-Peer connection, or a tunnel from one point to another, is created. All the data transmitted and received by the VPN server is being transferred via the encrypted channel that ensures safety and anonymity. Data is encrypted and decrypted on both the server and the client machine. The connection is established using a virtual TUN / TAP adapter that emulates a local area network.
The user must download and install the client part of OpenVPN program. And the service provider will provide all the necessary data to establish the connection with the server. Despite the simplicity of the OpenVPN setup, clear structure and principle of work – it is a powerful data protection tool.
OpenVPN technology has many advantages:
- Protection of the Internet traffic. As already noted, all data go through an encrypted channel, and therefore is unavailable to third parties. Your traffic may include correspondence, file transfers, streaming audio or video, money transfers, data on currency transactions and other important data that should be protected from prying eyes. Even if OpenVPN traffic happens to be intercepted, it would be highly problematic to use it. Decoding such data would require significant computing power – it would take months, if not years, to crack the key even for the modern cluster systems.
- Anonymity on the Internet. VPN server may be located depending on the preferences in any point of the globe. This means that the real IP-address will correspond to the location of the server. And this is an additional advantage for your anonymity, because even the sites where you publish your comments to news save the publicly available IP-data of the sender.
- Ability to bypass restrictions. Using the Internet is often limited by a set of restrictions. Global network policies of the company may contain lists of restricted sites, mostly social networks. Certain protocols may also be subject to restrictions, thus hindering the free use of the Internet. Due to the fact that virtual network traffic is not related in any way to the restriction settings with respect to visited domains or used services, the dedicated OpenVPN tunnel will easily bypass these obstacles.
- No reference to actual location. Many Internet sites are not available everywhere. This can be done to cut off unnecessary traffic which slows down the work of the resource. Some websites are under restrictions due to local legislation or censorship. VPN server will provide you with the flexible IP selection option to get the access to the necessary resources.
- Optimization of traffic. Despite the high speeds offered by the Internet service providers, there are still limits on data transfer. Often, companies set a limit of internet traffic for each of their employees. OpenVPN technology significantly compresses the data being transferred, thus expanding the set limitations.
- Dedicated IP. Remote connection has yet another advantage. It involves geographically remote transfer of data or use of your computer or network resources. These additional options are available through a dedicated IP provided by an OpenVPN server.
OpenVPN is a user-friendly and powerful technology that extends your freedom and facilitates your protection taking them to a whole new level.
