VPN on mobile devices: objectives, settings, uses

What is a VPN?

VPN (Virtual Private Network) – a technology set that provides the logical network from one to several secure network connections over another network, often over the Internet.

VPN is based on the principle of creating a network tunnel through which data will transfer from a user to the site or the service and the other way around using encryption that will change the data during the input and return them to their initial position at the output. Besides, VPN protects not only the transferred data but also the client's location and other private information.

So why use the VPN? There are a few reasons for this, but they are similar at their core:

• Internet anonymity, if the user does not want the provider will know all his movements through the network thanks to IP spoofing and traffic encrypting;
• bypassing the geographical restrictions;
• saving data in public places with non-secure Wi-Fi, where you may need to transfer passwords, card numbers, and other personal data;
• protection from hacking;
• remote work in a protected corporate environment;
• circumventing statutory prohibitions.

However, no matter how good a VPN is, there is always a possibility of bypassing or having a non-save VPN connection and the risk of attacks through plugins and cookies. Also, some unpopular free VPN programs can lie about the provided services and protection. That is why we will consider the most popular and credible services next in the article. 

Sometimes the speed of data transfer can be low. For example, delays in the process are possible when installing the protected connection and encrypting the transferred data. But in case the protection is more vital to the user, this disadvantage should not be taken into account.

VPN protocol types

There are many VPN protocol types with the help of which you can create a virtual network, and every one of them has its peculiarities and protection possibilities. Therefore, it is possible to highlight 5 of the most used protocols:

• PPTP; 
• L2TP; 
• IPSec; 
• SSTP; 
• OpenVPN. 

Let us see all of them briefly.

PPTP or Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol –  an often used VPN protocol that hides from using the point-to-point type protocols in the protocol packets of the Internet network. 

PPTP uses the Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption protocol, which has its own vulnerabilities. The protocol is often used by default on different devices and can be created between two local networks. The advantages are the high speed and use on any platform. PPTP also can use authentication for data transferring.

L2TP, Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol –  a combination of PPTP from Microsoft and L2F, created by Cisco.

L2TP allows the creation of the VPN tunnel not only in IP networks but also in the others (for example, ATM, X.25 and Frame Relay). The protocol itself is not encrypted, so it is often used with IPSec. This integration with IPSec uses dual data protection so that users might experience productivity problems.

IPSec, IP Security –  is a third-level network protocol that provides protection when exchanging keys on the Internet and transferring IP packets.

IPSec is mainly used to create VPN networks for commercial use. It is economical, effective and simple in the configuration settings.

SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol –  a protocol of the protected data transfer of the client-server's architecture only through the Internet connection.

In the beginning, SSTP was created for Windows by Windows, but now it is also available in other systems. Nevertheless, it is still more targeted and used in the Windows environment. It has a good ratio of speed and data transfer protection. It works easily through firewalls, but it is vulnerable to certain attacks despite its high security. 

OpenVPN –  a protocol with open source code used by most VPN services.

OpenVPN, using third-party software, can be applied on any platform. It uses SSL, Secure Socket Layer, and checks the credibility of the device to create an encrypted Internet connection. OpenVPN has a better combination of speed, credibility and protection.  

Thanks to using SSL, this protocol applies a different algorithm for data protection. (RC4, MD5, RSA, etc.)

Although OpenVPN has a complicated configuration for users, there are third-party services that help with it. Depending on which connection method users choose, they will be able to select the type of VPN connection or hand this work over to the owners of VPN servers.

VPN for mobile devices 

There are two ways to connect a mobile device to VPN:

• through the smartphone settings - longer setting process than in the other method. 
•  with the help of special applications - the application connects to the VPN on its own. Sometimes, it is unnecessary to create an account that simplifies VPN work.

Thanks to the built-up tools in modern smartphones, the user can create the VPN network himself, choosing the desired settings. We will see below how to connect to a VPN on Android and iOS platforms.  

Setting VPN on Android 

1. In the smartphone settings, tap the «Connections» item. Next, choose the «More connection settings» item from the list on the opened screen and choose the «VPN» item.

2. After opening for the first time, the «VPN» screen will be empty. In order to add the network, tap the «+» button and add the «VPN» profile in the top right panel.

3. You will see the message on the screen while adding the first VPN network. After that, choose the screen unlock method. This step is required because the connection to VPN will not happen without smartphone protection.

4. After selecting a screen unlock method, the window will be opened for entering connection parameters to the VPN (1). The user can enter any network name, choose the type of protection, indicate the server address, the login and the password of the VPN service account. The server address is presented by any VPN service found by the user on the Internet after registration.

After saving the settings, the user will see the created network on the «VPN» screen (2). In order to connect to the network, it is necessary to tap on it and enter the login and password to the VPN service account (3) that the user previously entered on screen 1.

5.  If all the data are entered correctly, the "Connected" text will appear near the network name and the "Key" icon, which means the connection to the VPN, will be shown in the status bar at the top. Now any Internet access will be safe.

VPN setting on iOS

 The steps of the VPN setting on the Apple products are similar to the described above Android ones.

1. Choose the «General» item in the settings and the «VPN & Device Management» item on the new screen.

2. Tap the «VPN» item and the «Add VPN Configuration...» on the new screen (1). Enter the same data used during the VPN network creation on Android (2). The only difference is the «Remote ID» field in which one should add the name of the VPN service. 

The new network will appear (3) after saving the settings on the «VPN» screen. Tap on the «State» checkbox (4) to enable this network.

3. After the successful connection, the small icon with the «VPN» text will appear in the status bar.

As you can see in the instruction, setting the VPN on the mobile device is not hard. The only difficulty is in choosing the VPN service because there are a lot of them on the Internet, and most of them are paid. However, almost all the services have a mobile application that can simplify the connection to the VPN. There are also separate applications for online privacy protection.  

TOP 5 the most popular VPN applications

TunnelBear – an easy application for organising the virtual private network, that:

• hides the user location from websites and internet hunters;
• visualizes the tunnels through which the data are transferred from one country to another one;
• allows safely using of public Wi-Fi networks;
• has friendly support from the users.

Hotspot Shield – an application that can:

• provide access to applications, multimedia, video and message exchange from anywhere in the world; 
• unblock the social network;
• protect the Wi-Fi connection;
• provide safety and privacy when using mobile devices.

Windscribe – an application for the VPN with paid and free modes. In the free mode, there are the following features:

• easy to start and use;
• white network list, so the application automatically enables and disables VPN;
• encoding all data, no one will be able to trace the user's actions on the Internet;
• a strict policy against the registration absence;
• access to the servers in 10 countries (including the USA, Canada, The UK and others).

hide.me  has a number of advantages: 

• stable service even with unstable 3G connections;
• automatic choice of the service;
• functioning of the automatic reconnection when the Internet connection is interrupted and renewed in an hour;
• the application does not save logs of the user's actions on the Internet;
• an anonymous IP address is provided. It is used by different people, which creates a pool of anonymous activity.

Speedify application can: 

• maintain the speed over 100 mb/s in many places;
• use Wi-Fi and mobile network connection at the same time, which makes downloading, sending and streaming experience faster and safer; 
• work in the background mode with many other applications;
• provide a smooth and imperceptible transition to a different connection.

As you can notice, there is no big difference between manual configured VPN and special programs in terms of functionality. The work in virtual private networks is simple and stable in both cases.

Using VPN in testing

VPN connections on mobile devices can be used for different purposes. However, in testing, the VPN is used only in several cases. 

• For connecting to the internal websites/servers/capacities of the customer.

Often, access to these resources is available only from the internal logic network of the company. With the help of the VPN, the user becomes a part of this network and therefore has access to everything they need.

In some cases, a simple authorization is not enough for protection. That is why the customers choose encryption of the company's networks by using VPN. The logic network is built by one of the four architecture models: Intranet, Extranet, Remote Access або Client/Server. It allows you to transfer and get data safely and without any problems. Using the VPN is not a problem in this case. All the settings are configured by network administrators on the customer side. The user or the QA tester, in our case, gets the encryption key, which should be connected to the PC for identification and access gaining. This method of VPN network use is applied almost in every company in which there are remote workers or units in different geographical locations. 

• For the block content access

Sometimes we need the content available only for the specific region or the opposite - available for everyone, except one.

This problem can be solved with the help of the VPN - the user's traffic is redirected via the servers located in the country that has access to the required resources while bypassing all the regional blocking.

• For testing applications from other countries

There are cases due to the program specificity when customers want an application to be tested from different parts of the world. So instead of hiring testers from various countries, it is enough to create one team that will test application work using VPN.

Conclusions

VPN is a good choice for protection and saving anonymity in the network. It deserves the attention of anyone who uses the Internet on mobile devices or PC. The VPN networks offer a wide range of opportunities used not only by IT specialists but also by common users. But do not forget about the disadvantages of VPN usage. There is a possibility of low speed of the data transfer, bypassing, or a non-save VPN connection. There are several VPN protocol types. Thanks to the description of their peculiarities, you can choose the type corresponding to your purpose. The most popular one is OpenVPN, which has the least number of deficiencies, but for the common user, any of the protocols are sufficient.