Virtual Private Networks (VPN)

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A VPN (virtual private network) is a net that uses the public Internet to transport private data form one point to another. It allows to send confidential information over a insecure network. The members of a VPN can change information as if they were in a LAN. The connection is encrypted.

 

There are four different types of VPN; two of them are implemented in Gibraltar:

Site-to-Site: Connection of two networks by VPN gateways on both sites. These gateways establish a permanent VPN connection that can be used by all clients behind the gateways to reach the opposite network. This kind of VPN is used to connect different headquarters of a company. Gibraltar uses IPSec for Site-to-Site VPN connections.
Site-to-End: Connection of an external worker with the headquarter. The computer or laptop of the employee starts the VPN tunnel to connect his computer to the VPN gateway of his company. Using this connection allows the employee to work as if he were in the office. Gibraltar offers different possibilities for this kind of VPN.

 

Passwords, public keys, or digital certificates ensure the authentication of the VPN end points. To increase the security the traffic that comes through into the network via VPN should be filtered by the packet filter. This additional configuration makes the forwarding of worms or Trojans more difficult.