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Which VPN protocol works at Layer 3 and can encrypt the entire TCP/IP packet?

by Dominik

By being a component of the IPv4 enhancement, the IP security (IPSec) protocol suite operates as (not “at” – as) the so-called layer 3 of an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.

The said structure has seven levels, the third of which is called the network layer. That puts IPSec in a crucial role of a modern (tele)communications system – one happening between data link and transport.

In other words, IPSec is an end-to-end Internet layer security solution in every sense of those words. Of course, one shouldn’t blindly obsess over “those words” as they denote an entirely arbitrary concept which only exists to enable a very basic human understanding of very-not-basic-to-understand things. Not to diss OSI as even the human crowd’s finest specimens responsible for things like designing magical computer cables can make for a pretty thick audience when they’re challenged to learn something new at inopportune times, like right before an unrelated meeting, retirement, or early-stage Alzheimer’s symptoms.

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