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Security

VPN

A virtual private network: an encrypted tunnel over a public network that makes remote devices or sites appear to be on one private network.

VPNs are common in industrial and cellular IoT. A fleet of cellular IoT routers may tunnel back to the company network with IPsec or WireGuard so that no device service is exposed on the public internet, and operators offer private APNs that achieve a similar effect at the carrier level. Technicians use VPNs to reach equipment on remote sites for maintenance.

A VPN secures the path, not the endpoints. A compromised device on the tunnel is a compromised device inside the private network, which is why VPN access should land in a segmented zone rather than the flat corporate LAN. For device-to-cloud telemetry, per-session TLS with certificates is usually simpler and lighter than maintaining a tunnel, while VPNs remain the right tool for remote management and site-to-site links.

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