Why buy VPN firewall router?

When you are purchasing a VPN router, either for a small business or for a home or a home office, surely security and safety of your home office and business networks and their data is of utmost importance. You simply want to extend the safety, security, and protection of your company or home network to external sites. It could be for the use of telecommuters in their home offices, or it could be for the connection with the external branch offices. Or you could even meet a client in Starbucks and access your office network data, or access your office desktop remotely.

Risks with VPN routers

You understand there are always risks involved when exposing the office network to the outside world. So at the same time you realize that, to keep the benefits of external access to the company network, such as telecommuting, meeting clients, and possible secure connections to the outside branches, you want to minimize the risks.

VPN firewall router to the rescue

This is where a VPN Firewall Router configuration comes in. Yes, the VPN itself provides a secure tunnel between the telecommuter's computer and your office network. However, what is to prevent the telecommuter to inadvertently get inflicted on a virus on his own computer and then transmit that virus to your company's network!? VPN itself is just a tunnel, it does not know what kind of traffic it is transmitting, by design. So when you buy a VPN router with built in firewall, you add that missing piece of traffic inspection and filtering.

VPN Firewall Routers are often equipped or have an option to be equipped with virus blockers, Trojan blockers, a variety of malware blockers, as well as spam filters for email. It makes sense to also enable content blockers at this point as well, and only allow business data to flow in and out through the VPN firewall router. A VPN firewall router with these additional capabilities are also known as VPN remote desktop firewall routers, or as a VPN antivirus router.

Frequently, a VPN Firewall Router will feature a built in VLAN capability. This basically enables a router manager to separate, through a Virtual LAN capability, the network into parts that do not communicate amongst themselves unless given a special permission. That way, you can, for example, separate your company's accounting department from the company's research and development department, and from the sales department. In addition to simplifying the network structures without adding additional routers and other hardware, the VLAN capability will make your company's network more secure from intrusions and security breaches.

Overall, a VPN firewall router combination, especially when enhanced by optional virus, Trojan, and malware blockers, with content filtering, and with the managed and routed VLAN capability will reduce the risk of network security breaches, intrusions, and related interruption of normal business day-to-day activities.