Virtual Private Networking

Virtual private networking (VPN) is a way in which a public network is used to communicate for businesses and organisations through methods such as the internet. One of the many uses of virtual private networking is that it can send data across secured channels. This is a cost cutting approach to communications and has added security which can not always be ensured across private lines.

Many Virtual Private Networking client programs can be configured to require that all IP traffic must pass through the tunnel while the VPN connection is active, giving that added security for you and your organisation, as all data has to pass through the same firewall so that all data is thoroughly checked before it is processed. This reduces the risk of any hackers who might gain access to the secured network by entering the VPN client's host machine: to other computers on employee's home network, or on the public internet, it is as though the machine running the VPN client simply does not exist.

Such security is crucial because other computers local to the network on which the client computer is operating may not be trustworthily. Even with a home network that is protected from the outside internet by a firewall, people who share a home may be simultaneously working for different employers over their respective Virtual Private Networking connections from the shared home network and ensure that their own data is secure.