WireGuard is the better default when a VPN app offers both, because it is simpler than IKEv2, with nothing to negotiate, while IKEv2 is the better choice for the VPN client built into Windows, Apple devices or Android, company logins, or rules requiring FIPS-approved cryptography. Settings may list IKEv2 as “IKEv2” or “IKEv2/IPsec”: IKEv2 sets … Read more
An IPsec VPN is a virtual private network that uses IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) to encrypt and authenticate the packets that travel between two gateways, between a device and a gateway, or between two devices across a network such as the internet. IPsec is a suite of protocols standardised by the Internet Engineering Task Force … Read more
A cloud VPN is a VPN whose gateway runs in the cloud and is operated by a cloud provider or a VPN service vendor, not on hardware the organisation runs itself. Staff devices and office networks connect to that gateway through encrypted tunnels to reach the organisation’s applications and networks. “Cloud VPN” is not a … Read more
An SSL VPN is a remote access VPN that encrypts the connection between a user’s device and an organisation’s VPN gateway with TLS, the successor to SSL, usually on TCP port 443. Users reach internal resources through a web portal in their browser or through an installed client that builds a network tunnel. Vendors kept … Read more
A mesh VPN is a private network in which devices connect directly to each other through encrypted tunnels, instead of sending all traffic through one central VPN server. A coordination service authorises devices and helps them find each other. When a direct path is blocked, traffic can pass through a relay. A mesh VPN links … Read more
A VPN gateway is the device or managed cloud service that terminates encrypted VPN tunnels for a private network. It authenticates each remote user, device or peer gateway, decrypts incoming traffic and passes it to the internal network, and encrypts the replies on the way back. It may be standalone or built into a firewall … Read more
A remote access VPN is a VPN deployment in which individual endpoint devices connect to a corporate or organisational network through an encrypted tunnel terminating at a VPN gateway that the organisation runs or that a vendor runs on its behalf. The gateway authenticates each user or device, enforces access policy, and provides a path … Read more
PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) is a VPN protocol developed in the mid-1990s by the PPTP Forum. PPTP was built natively into Windows from Windows NT 4.0 in 1996. From the late 1990s through the 2000s it was the dominant remote-access VPN standard in corporate deployments. Its authentication mechanism has been demonstrably crackable since 2012, its … Read more
A site-to-site VPN is an encrypted connection between two network gateways that permanently links two separate networks across the public internet, allowing devices at each location to communicate as if they share one private network. No VPN client software runs on the individual devices inside either network. The gateways handle all encryption, decryption, and routing; … Read more
Most free VPNs are not safe to use. Free VPN apps have been documented logging and selling user data at scale, shipping broken or absent encryption, and, in one documented case, reselling users’ bandwidth as a commercial proxy network. A small number of free tiers from audited, subscription-funded providers are safe, but they are the … Read more