Today in networking class we were talking about VPNs. The prof got on topic of v

Question

Today in networking class we were talking about VPNs. The prof got on topic of virtual routers and said that a way some VPNs work is by a client would purchase the service from the ISP and the ISP would have a separate virtual router for each client, so that each router has it's own routing table (and this would somehow guarantee no two separate clients get packets that's not meant for them). He said that not all VPNs use encryption. Is this true? I don't get how this would be secure, because if each node along the way from the ISP to the client's network is relaying a packet then they could see it in plain text if it's not encrypted and if they are trusted then how would this be different than a least line?

Explanation / Answer

There do seem to be these two uses of the term VPN.

Obviously the most important bit is Privacy - and many people (myself included) can only accept privacy exists if there is encryption, but as R15 mentioned, MPLS providers typically call their service VPN but rarely have encryption enabled. They rely on routing segregation.

It can be safe for some communications, but it presents a couple of key risks:

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