Benefits of VPNs

A VPN allows two or more private networks (protected by various security mechanisms such as encryption and authentication) to be connected over a publicly accessed network such as the Internet. While a VPN can support the same intranet and extranet services as a Wide Area Network (WAN), VPNs can also support secure remote access services. Employees working remotely can then call in to a local service provider to access their company's internal intranet.

PATROL provides some VPN functionality within the product in the capability to configure the Security Socket Layer (SSL) protocol for connections between clients and servers. SSL uses several network security techniques including public and private cryptographic keys and trusted authority certificates. See the PATROL Security User Guide for a further discussion of the security techniques that PATROL uses.