The article is devoted to the actual problem of overcoming the restrictions imposed by the IP Protocol and network technologies used in conjunction with it, in particular, address translation, on the structure of computer networks and the availability of its individual nodes. It proposes a method of building virtual network tunnels based on the principles of steganography using service network protocols, briefly describes the shortcomings of existing technologies of tunneling. The paper describes in detail the proposed method of steganographic encapsulation of network packets, describes the principles of formation of packet headers, provides examples of protocols for encapsulation. The material of the article is presented consistently, competently and meets the generally accepted requirements for scientific works. The presented approach to solving the problem of building virtual tunnels has scientific novelty and has practical value.

Keywords: Encapsulation, Internet protocols, multilevel network models, steganography, steganographic packet encapsulation, tunneling