Linksys RVS4000 User Guide

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data to a new destination. Even though the data is not received by its intended recipient, it appears that way to 
the person sending the data.

These are only a few of the methods hackers use and they are always developing more. Without the security of 
your VPN, your data is constantly open to such attacks as it travels over the Internet. Data travelling over the 
Internet will often pass through many different servers around the world before reaching its final destination. 
That's a long way to go for unsecured data and this is when a VPN serves its purpose.

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a connection between two endpoints—a VPN Router, for instance—in 
different networks that allows private data to be sent securely over a shared or public network, such as the 
Internet. This establishes a private network that can send data securely between these two locations or 
networks.

This is done by creating a “tunnel”. A VPN tunnel connects the two PCs or networks and allows data to be 
transmitted over the Internet as if it were still within those networks. Not a literal tunnel, it is a connection 
secured by encrypting the data sent between the two networks.

VPN was created as a cost-effective alternative to using a private, dedicated, leased line for a private network. 
Using industry standard encryption and authentication techniques—IPSec, short for IP Security—the VPN creates 
a secure connection that, in effect, operates as if you were directly connected to your local network. Virtual 
Private Networking can be used to create secure networks linking a central office with branch offices, 
telecommuters, and/or professionals on the road (travelers can connect to a VPN Router using any computer with 
the Linksys VPN client software.)

There are two basic ways to create a VPN connection:

•

VPN Router to VPN Router

•

Computer (using the Linksys VPN client software) to VPN Router 

The VPN Router creates a “tunnel” or channel between two endpoints, so that data transmissions between 
them are secure. A computer with the Linksys VPN client software can be one of the two endpoints (refer to 
“Appendix C: Using the Linksys QuickVPN Software for Windows 2000 or XP”). If you choose not to run the VPN 
client software, any computer with the built-in IPSec Security Manager (Microsoft 2000 and XP) allows the VPN 
Router to create a VPN tunnel using IPSec (refer to “Appendix C: Configuring IPSec between a Windows 2000 or 
XP PC and the Router”). Other versions of Microsoft operating systems require additional, third-party VPN client 
software applications that support IPSec to be installed. 

IMPORTANT: You must have at least one VPN 
Router on one end of the VPN tunnel. At the other 
end of the VPN tunnel, you must have a second VPN 
Router or a computer with the Linksys VPN client