The overall goal and mechanics of this level are the same as previous levels, however the networking slightly changes going forward.

Pivoting vs. Tunneling

Levels 1 and 2 used pivoting tools.  Under the hood those tools simply rewrite the TCP/IP headers for matching packets and send them to their new destination.  It’s important to note pivot applications generally do not provide encryption.  Tunneling, on the other hand, usually provides encryption.  Tunneling encapsulates the original packet within the tunneling protocol, such as SSH.  Once the packet gets to the end of the tunnel the encapsulation protocol is stripped away and the original packet is sent to its destination.