Network Glossary

Virtual Private Network, is a service that enables you to avoid geographical blocking or geo-blocking and surf the internet securely, privately, and anonymously. It enables you to connect to a secure server that directs your internet traffic via an encrypted and secure tunnel. This makes sure that data received or sent by your PC is secured and encrypted.

Pros of VPNs:

• Masks IP to provide anonymity.

• Uses strong encryption to surf online securely and privately.

• Allows you to escape geoblocking and access content blocked in your region.

• Can be easily set up and used.

Cons of VPNs:

• The main disadvantage of a VPN is that because of using greater encryption, you might experience lower internet speeds.

VPN is the best solution if you want to keep your internet activities secure and anonymous. It is also used to access services that are banned in your geographical location. You can bypass geoblocking using a VPN software.

VPN Protocols

OpenVPN – It is an open-source VPN protocol that is most popular as of now. It is very reliable and secure with AES-256 bit key encryption with 2048-bit RSA authentication and a 160-bit SHA1 hash algorithm. Although, it has slower speeds.

PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) – It is one of the oldest protocols was developed by Microsoft in the mid-90s. It is mainly used for faster data speed and has wider support. But, it lacks security features.

L2TP/IPSec (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) – It is a replacement for the PPTP VPN protocol. It is widely used and has good speed.

SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol) – It is fully integrated with Microsoft operating system and uses 2048-bit SSL/TLS certificates for authentication and 256-bit SSL keys for encryption. It offers good security and is difficult to detect and block.

IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange version 2) – This VPN protocol provides a secure key exchange session. It is fast, provides network switching capabilities, and offers support to third-party clients.

WireGuard – It is a modern, fast, and secure VPN tunneling protocol.

GPN stands for Gamers Private Network. It is a client/server technology that is used to enhance and optimize your gaming experience. Unlike a VPN (Virtual Private Network), a GPN doesn’t encrypt your web traffic or hide your activities. Instead, it focuses on increasing the speed between your PC and the gaming server while playing games.

Pros of GPNs:

• Boosts gaming speed and quality.

• Decreases ping time and lag.

• Lowers jitter and packet loss.

• Easy to set up.

Cons of GPNs:

• GPNs are particularly used for improving your gaming experience. So, unlike VPNs, don’t expect security and privacy features with it. Also, there might a limited list of games supported by individual GPN services.

The GPN relays the traffic to the target server “as is” while focusing on increasing the speed between your PC and gaming server. It primarily manages the online game traffic and tunnels to get you through the quickest and optimized route to the gaming servers. On the whole, a GPN minimizes the latency, ping, jitter, and packet loss while playing online games.

If you want to reduce pings, spikes, and network latency while gaming, GPN is the best solution for you. It optimizes the overall gaming experience by increasing the speed. Their use is very limited in contrast to a VPN.