Depending on your circumstances: * A VPN can reduce the threat to your (remote) LAN by allowing fewer services to be externally accessible - example: you don’t have to expose IMAP, HTTP(S), etc. Probably still need to expose 25 for inbound mail, but you don’t typically auth on 25. * A VPN can provide an additional layer of encryption for traffic that may or may not be encrypted, whether its the data channel or meta-data * A VPN can obscure meta-data aspects of the services you are connecting to (whether they are on the remote LAN or not) * A VPN can provide access to services that somebody wants restricted (for example, some networks only allow certain ports outbound, a VPN can bypass these restrictions)
A VPN is not an end-to-end solution. Its just a way to securely bind 2 networks together. You’re still responsible for ensuring that non-VPN traffic is appropriately authenticated/encrypted/checksum’d/etc. From my perspective, the physical distance isn’t important. A VPN is just as useful when connecting 2 networks whether they are 100’ away, or 10000mi. And I don’t see a difference between connecting 2 LANs or a mobile user (laptop/phone/tablet) to a LAN. It all works the same way. VPNs can take different forms. Some people like using SSH as a VPN of sorts. Some people like SSL VPNs (OpenVPN is an example). Some people like IPSec. Sometimes you use different types for different use-cases. > On Nov 18, 2019, at 1:50 PM, Rich Shepard <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'm not traveling out-of-state as much as I used to and I'm curious when a > VPN would be advantageous for a sole practitioner professional services > provider who would access the office LAN for mail and files when not sitting > at the desk there. All thoughts welcome. > > Rich > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug -- Louis Kowolowski [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Cryptomonkeys: http://www.cryptomonkeys.com/ <http://www.cryptomonkeys.com/> Making life more interesting for people since 1977 _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
