A VPN is used on various kinds of devices, in order to ensure the privacy and security of the data of the users. Its basic job is to protect the data that is being transferred between two or more devices. It protects the data from outside threats and encroachers such as hackers or malware etc. In doing this task of VPN its encryption matters the most and there are various types of VPN encryption available on the internet that one can choose as per their requirements.
What Are The Different Types Of VPN Encryption?
The VPNs do their job by creating an encrypted tunnel, which no one can breach so that our data is privately trafficked through the medium of that tunnel. Day-by-day, the technology is touching new heights to ensure that the privacy and security of your data are not compromised at any cost by providing the best encryption through VPN.
The different types of VPN encryption that are available today can be seen below-
IKeV2
It is a VPN encryption protocol that was developed jointly by Microsoft and Cisco, as a successor to IKeV1. It stands for Internet Key Exchange Version 2. IT takes care of the requests it receives and consequently acts as required. It guarantees the security of the traffic with the help of IPSec on which it is based.
It creates a tunnel between the VPN server and the client and ensures its security and privacy. It generates the same symmetric encryption key for both the server and the client and handles the Security Association attribute.
Features
- Strong encryption with high-end ciphers
- Fast speeds online
- Good at restoring dropped connections
- Easy to use and set up
- Can be blocked by a firewall
- Limited compatibility across various platforms
SSTP
Secure Socket Tunnelling Protocol or SSTP is the VPN protocol that creates an encrypted tunnel for the flow of data with the help of SSL and TLS protocol. It was also developed by Microsoft and was launched with Windows Vista. It transports Point to point protocol (PPP) traffic and passes through an SSL/TLS channel. It encourages checking the integrity of traffic, secure negotiation of the key, and encryption.
Features
- Decent levels of security
- Easy to use and configure
- Not easily blocked by firewalls
- Good speed with enough bandwidth
- Available only for Windows, Linux, and Android
- Issues of the dropping of connection occur sometimes
L2TP/IPsec
Layer 2 Tunnelling Protocol is a session layer protocol that uses a User Datagram Protocol for the purpose of the flow of data traffic. It should be used with Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) to ensure the security and confidentiality of data. This encryption also get used by one of the best VPN service called ExpressVPN which is famous for its high speed servers. You might find this pricing high for you then can also use ExpressVPN coupon to get additional discounted benefits.
Features
- High level of security for your data
- Good connectivity without breaks
- Good encryption standard
- Fast and flexible encryption type
- Comes with a great authorization policy
- Affordable and cost-effective option
PPTP
Point to point tunneling Protocol or PPTP is a VPN protocol that was initially developed for Windows only, but with time gained momentum and brought out versions for other various platforms as well. It comes with a set of rules that ensures proper communication and guarantee the security of data.
It overlooks the transportation of data traffic within its encrypted tunnels. IT only requires the server address and your username and password to do its work. IT can work on Windows, Linux, Android, Tomato, macOS and iOS, etc.
Features
- It is one of the fastest protocols
- It is available for many types of devices and is very easy to configure.
- It can be established on a large number of platforms due to its cross-platform compatibility
- It can be cracked by NSA and thus is a bit weak at security
- It can be blocked by Firewalls
TLS and SSL
Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) are quite famous cryptographic protocols that encrypt communications over the web and ensure their security and integrity. SSL was launched before TLS and was quite popular as a strong encryption protocol. Yet, when TLS was launched as its successor, the world started shifting its focus from SSL to TLS.
Features
- It is used to protect emails, calls, and other such communications
- SSL certificates provide robust security to the connection
- The privacy parameters of SSL and TLS are very high.
- Authentication certificates are also provided to the user which guarantees the authenticity of your data
- Provides a lot of convenience to the user
- The client and the server are given the option to choose the best algorithms for the connection.
OpenVPN
It is a software as well as a VPN protocol that provides its users with point-to-point and site-to-site connections. It is one of the most widely used VPN protocols as it is the only Open-source VPN as well as application.
IT provides a safe tunnel for the flow of information between the client and the server. It makes use of its OpenSSL library to handle encryption. It uses either Transmission Control Protocol or User Diagram Protocol for its work.
Features
- It uses high-end ciphers and 256-bit encryption keys.
- IT is known to bypass all firewalls
- You are given more control over your connections
- IT runs on many platforms such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and Solaris, etc.
- A bit difficult to set up manually
- It needs third-party applications to run sometimes
- The speed and the connection might drop sometimes
WireGuard
It is the latest development and new technology-based open-source VPN protocol and has been gaining significance with time. It was originally developed for usage on Linux but can also be used on various other platforms. It works by exchanging keys and establishing the tunnel which is encrypted for the flow of data.
Features
- Its high security is guaranteed by state-of-the-art cryptography used by it.
- It is built using a light code and is thus easy to audit.
- It gives high speeds to its users.
- It guarantees low battery consumption
- Regular audits in Wireguard ensure its efficiency
- It can be used on Windows, Linux, macOS, and iOS
- Using WireGuard, your VPN may store logs that might pose a threat to your data.
Conclusion
Thus, we have read about the most prevalent types of VPN encryption protocols that are used by VPN service providers around the world. Therefore, before getting a VPN for yourself, you should ensure that it has a good encryption protocol for the security and privacy of your data.
