home/glossary/Tunnel

Tunnel

nounid 4516·updated May 9, 2026
candidate

The path that encapsulated packets follow in an Internet VPN.

Classifications

Entity Type

Network95%rule-basedr:entity.network.gear.v1

Sensitivity

unclassified

Information Class

unclassified

Variants

plural
Tunnels
possessive
Tunnel's
pluralpossessive
Tunnels'

Framework definitions

SANS Glossary of Security Terms1 senseview framework →
§1
A communication channel created in a computer network by encapsulating a communication protocol's data packets in (on top of) a second protocol that normally would be carried above, or at the same layer as, the first one. Most often, a tunnel is a logical point-to-point link - i.e., an OSI layer 2 connection - created by encapsulating the layer 2 protocol in a transport protocol (such as TCP), in a network or inter-network layer protocol (such as IP), or in another link layer protocol. Tunneling can move data between computers that use a protocol not supported by the network connecting them.
ISACA Cybersecurity Glossary1 senseview framework →
§1
The paths that the encapsulated packets follow in an Internet virtual private network (VPN)
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) IT Examination Handbook Infobase, Glossary1 senseview framework →
§1
The path that encapsulated packets follow in an Internet VPN.

Outgoing relationships

No outgoing triples
This term is not the subject of any RDF-style relationship yet.

Incoming relationships

No incoming triples
No other term currently asserts a relationship to this one.