Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
/ˈel-tuː-tiː-piː/
n. “A tunnel that forgot to bring a lock.”
L2TP, short for Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, is a networking protocol designed to create virtual tunnels across IP networks. Its job is not secrecy, not encryption, and not trust — its job is encapsulation. L2TP takes packets from one place, wraps them neatly, and delivers them somewhere else as if they had always belonged there.
WireGuard
/ˈwaɪərˌɡɑːrd/
n. “Small, sharp, and unapologetically modern.”
WireGuard is a next-generation virtual private network protocol designed to do one thing extremely well: create fast, secure encrypted tunnels without dragging decades of legacy complexity along for the ride. Where older VPN systems grew layered, configurable, and occasionally fragile, WireGuard arrived with a different philosophy — fewer options, fewer lines of code, and far fewer places for mistakes to hide.
OpenVPN
/ˈoʊpən-viː-piː-ɛn/
n. “A private tunnel built out of public roads.”
OpenVPN is an open-source virtual private networking protocol and software suite designed to create secure, encrypted connections across untrusted networks. It exists to solve a simple but dangerous problem: the internet is shared, noisy, and hostile, yet people still need to move private data across it without being watched, altered, or impersonated.