When speaking of VPN security protocols, there are 2 well known of them. Those are the IPSec and SSL VPN. Even though both of them share some sort of similarities (to transport data securely), there are major differences which separates them. For ensuring the system's security, it is important for every user to know the differences between them.
In this article, I will be concentrating on IPSec Vs SSL | 4 Differences between IPSec and SSL VPN. At last you will know which is the better internet protocol.
Let's get started,
1. Security
IPSec connections constantly exchange a pre shared key between the client and the server system. This key will be used to encrypt and send data. However such an exchange could possibly be insecure. Because while exchanging these keys can be captured by the attackers.
SSL VPNs use public key cryptography method. This method on default ensures secure key exchange. Due to this it has given no any chance for the attackers to capture these keys.
2. Firewall Bypass
A type of firewall known as NAT exists on networking hardware such as the Wifi router. To prevent threats this firewall removes all the data packets without the port number. Since the packet used in the IPSec is without a port number, this can also be removed. As a result the IPSec VPN may fail to work. To prevent this IPSec VPN packets are encapsulated inside the UDP packets. Due to this the data will be identified through the UDP port number. Most at times this will be UDP 4500. However this cannot be guaranteed always. Some of the network administrators only allow certain types of protocols to pass through. There are chances where UDP 4500 may not be one of them.
SSL VPN most often uses the port 443 for the data travel. This port has been identified by the devices as the secure HTTPS port. Since most of the network allows passing of HTTPS data through port 443, SSL VPN can be considered to be open. This makes it more flexible to bypass any type of restriction that is based on ports including those of firewalls.
3. Speed
In general a SSL based VPN protocol will establish connections faster compared to the IPSec based VPN protocols. However this is an exception when you use the IKEv2 protocol. The IKEv2 protocol has the capability to reconnect quickly whenever there is an interruption in the VPN connection. This makes it ideal for the mobile devices that switch between Wifi and mobile data frequently.
4. Usability
In most operating systems, the IKEv2, L2TT and SSTP has default IPSec based VPN protocols. Due to this it does not require any application in order for it to function. However there are still some VPN users who use provider's applications for connecting the service.
Most web browsers does support the functioning of SSL in default. However there must be a third party application for accessing the OpenVPN. This application is usually provided by the VPN service.
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