Book Image

OpenVPN: Building and Integrating Virtual Private Networks

Book Image

OpenVPN: Building and Integrating Virtual Private Networks

Overview of this book

OpenVPN is a powerful, open source SSL VPN application. It can secure site-to-site connections, WiFi and enterprise-scale remote connections. While being a full-featured VPN solution, OpenVPN is easy to use and does not suffer from the complexity that characterizes other IPSec VPN implementations. It uses the secure and stable TLS/SSL mechanisms for authentication and encryption. This book is an easy introduction to this popular VPN application. After introducing the basics of security and VPN, the book moves on to cover using OpenVPN, from installing it on various platforms, through configuring basic tunnels, to more advanced features, such as using the application with firewalls, routers, proxy servers, and OpenVPN scripting. While providing only necessary theoretical background, the book takes a practical approach, presenting plenty of examples.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
OpenVPN
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

Summary


In this chapter, you have learned basic security concepts necessary for VPN technologies. There are several websites with excellent material on IT security issues. You have received an overview of basic security and encryption issues and know why complexity is always an enemy of security. With symmetric keying, both encryption partners use the same key, but when asymmetric keying is used, the encryption key is different from the one used for decrypting the data. The SSL/TLS library uses asymmetric keying and provides certificates used by millions of websites. The certificates can be signed by official authorities like our passports or ID cards, or self-signed by a local authority. This is called third-party authentication because a certificate signed by third party is trusted.