How would you explain what a VPN is to an end-user?

VPN
1

I remember way back in my early career, I was interviewing for one place and the interviewer asked me this question.

The interview was for entry level sysadmin stuff, and was going well up until this point. I fumbled out an answer with a weird analogy comparing it to a nightclub bouncer letting certain people in the door. I don’t remember the specifics, I erased it from my memory because it made me cringe hard.

The interview soon went downhill after my verbal-diarrhea response to the question, and needless to say, I didn’t get the job.

Hilariously, that question occasionally pops into my head still, even to this day. And to be honest, I still don’t know the best answer. Not that I think I’ll need to now, as my resume implies I’m a few roles removed from needing to prove basic knowledge.

… so, how would you answer this question in an interview?

2

It’s like you have a long network cable from wherever you are in the world that runs back to the office, and it requires a password to plug it in.

3

Its a tunnel between your house and the office that tricks your laptop into thinking it is actually in the office.

4

It lets you securely to the office in such a way that your computer is “in the office” It might be a bit slower… but it’s all there.

5

“Ok so this right here is your VPN. That’s Virtual Private Network. You need to use this whenever you are not at the office, but need to connect to the server. For example if you are working from home or from the airport. This helps to keep whatever you do secure and encrypted.” lol

6

With a picture

┌───────────Internet─────────────────────────┐
│                                            │
│   ┌──PC───────┐            ┌──Office───┐   │
│   │           │            │           │   │
│   │           └─────VPN────┘           │   │
│   │        <-------Data------->        │   │
│   │           ┌────────────┐           │   │
│   │           │            │           │   │
│   └───────────┘            └───────────┘   │
│                                            │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘
7

The Internet is a series of tubes. Tubes with holes punched in it every few inches. We take a tube with only 2 holes, one on each end and run it between your house, coffee shop, hotel, etc… to the Business so no one else can get in and see what you are doing.

8

A tunnel through a hill.

And a gate which controls your id

9

Short version: “It tricks your computer into thinking its on our private network when remote”

Longer Version:

"
Let’s pretend you work at some giant old school office that still has a mail room.

Anytime you want to send mail to someone in the office, they ONLY accept the letter if it came from the mail room.

So let’s say you were working remotely and had to send an inter office letter, how could you do that?

Well what you do is make the letter at your house like normal, address it to the person internally. What you then do is put THAT envelope into a UPS box that they route to your office building.

UPS drops it off to the front desk, who you have told about your scheme. The front desk sees the UPS package came from your address, opens it up, takes out your letter, and sends it to the mail room. When it gets to the recipient they have no idea it came from outside
"

Thats the analogy I’ve worked on, and I think helps explain things like encapsulation a bit and let’s you go into the “front desk” person being the VPN concentrator.

10

Imagine sharing the highway with everyone else but in order to get to specific place, you need to get on a private roadway to get there

11

it’s a long pipe and both of you stick your head in, now nobody can hear what you’re saying

12

It’s like one of those meeting rooms where the windows can fog for privacy.

13

How do you explain it?

You need to do this so you can access your work files from home.

Ez peezy

14

Once you have logged in it makes it look like you’re in the office when you are not so your files and certain applications are accessible as normal!

15

“It makes it like you’re plugged directly into the office network, while keeping people from snooping on what you’re doing.”

That’s the ELI5 explanation

16

Its a magic door that keeps you safe… End users just need to use it, this explanation will mean the same thing as the real explanation to most of them.

17

“Certain resources are only accessible for computers at the office. The VPN allows your computer to act like it’s at the office even if you’re somewhere else. Plus, it ensures your activity is private and secure!”

18

I personally like the description here at 7:45 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlNWZpOiYS4

Mostly I just like that he’s using a glock magazine and .300 blackout rounds to describe a vpn and tor lol

19

An analogy I used over the years is an offshore drilling rig. The wellpipe prevents saltwater contamination, while also preventing the oil from contaminating the sea water.

20

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