If any application deserves to take over the Internet's "killer app" crown, it's virtual private networking. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) started out as a complicated solution to a thorny security problem: connecting two distant networks through the Internet without exposing the internetwork traffic to hacker eavesdropping or manipulation. The goal of the VPN then was simply to replace expensive private circuits between locations, so VPN users put up with the complexity to reap huge monthly cost savings. But then VPNs grew exponentially to provide secure connectivity where there was none before: to telecommuters, business partners, vendors, customers, and even employees connecting from the local Starbucks. VPN technology became dirt cheap, but alas, it did not become much less complex.
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