A VPN (Virtual Private Network) creates a secure, encrypted tunnel between two endpoints across an untrusted network. For industrial IoT, that usually means encrypting traffic between a cellular router in the field and a corporate or cloud network, so device data is protected from interception even when it traverses the public internet.

In short: A VPN is the mechanism by which IoT device traffic is encrypted in transit. Industrial routers from Teltonika, Proroute, Robustel, and others support multiple VPN protocols including IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard, L2TP, GRE, and ZeroTier. The right protocol depends on the deployment's performance, interoperability, and security requirements.

Three protocols cover most industrial deployments. IPsec is the long-established choice for site-to-site connectivity between routers and corporate firewalls, and is widely supported across enterprise networking equipment. OpenVPN is more flexible and easier to deploy where one end is a server (a typical hub-and-spoke pattern for fleets of remote routers). WireGuard is newer, faster, simpler to configure, and increasingly the default for new deployments where both endpoints support it.

VPNs are not a substitute for private APN. A private APN keeps device traffic off the public internet entirely, routing it through a dedicated path to your environment. A VPN encrypts traffic that does travel over public infrastructure. In practice, security-conscious deployments use both: private APN to control routing, VPN to encrypt the link.

Millbeck supplies cellular routers with full VPN protocol support and can pre-configure VPN credentials before dispatch, so devices come online already authenticated against your VPN server.

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