A Virtual Private Network (VPN) links two different locations as if they were connected through a local private network. You might want to set up a VPN tunnel for a variety of reasons, increased security and convenience being the most common.

Let’s explore some of the reasons why you might opt for a VPN tunnel rather than a complete VPN service, and also look at some of the differences between these two services.

As the name suggests, a ‘tunnel’ travels through some material to link two different locations more directly, for example a tunnel through a mountain creates a direct route between both sides of the mountain. Replace that mountain with the internet, and you have a VPN tunnel: a direct route across the web linking two different machines.

A tunnel need not be encrypted, though the usual reason for setting up a tunnel is to transfer sensitive data, and therefore encryption tends to be used. A common scenario is a company with offices in multiple locations. The company wants to transfer sensitive data between different offices, but each office only uses a standard unencrypted internet connection. This is where a VPN comes in – the VPN tunnel allows this data to be sent encrypted on a direct path between the offices.