VPN and working from home dilemma

ferry

Hi all 
Need some advice, my son has been working from home and has a requirement to use a VPN to access sensitive work files. Seems our ISP Sky has now blocked the network and this is causing issues . I didn't want to call Sky with this issue as VPN's are generally not meant to be used 

Any ideas on how to get around this?

Thanks

debitcardmayhem

Tell Sky not to block it, or change ISP I need vpns inbound and also outbound, who says they are not meant to be used?

J_B

If it's a work requirement, maybe ask them?

MattMattMattUK

ferry said:

Hi all 
Need some advice, my son has been working from home and has a requirement to use a VPN to access sensitive work files. Seems our ISP Sky has now blocked the network and this is causing issues . I didn't want to call Sky with this issue as VPN's are generally not meant to be used 

Any ideas on how to get around this?

Thanks

What makes you think that VPNs are "generally not meant to be used"?

ferry

MattMattMattUK said:

ferry said:

Hi all 
Need some advice, my son has been working from home and has a requirement to use a VPN to access sensitive work files. Seems our ISP Sky has now blocked the network and this is causing issues . I didn't want to call Sky with this issue as VPN's are generally not meant to be used 

Any ideas on how to get around this?

Thanks

What makes you think that VPNs are "generally not meant to be used"?

Sure I read somehere something on this, obviously ISP's dont automatically know your using one fro work purposes 
 

JJ_Egan

 (Sure I read somehere something on this, o

Never ever seen anything like that across multiple ISps .

A huge number of company s and individuals use VPNs 

jim1999

What you're describing makes absolutely no sense.

Who has said that Sky have blocked the connection?  Is this coming from his employer?  It seems more likely that there's a configuration issue with his computer.

Neil_Jones

ferry said:

MattMattMattUK said:

ferry said:

Hi all 
Need some advice, my son has been working from home and has a requirement to use a VPN to access sensitive work files. Seems our ISP Sky has now blocked the network and this is causing issues . I didn't want to call Sky with this issue as VPN's are generally not meant to be used 

Any ideas on how to get around this?

Thanks

What makes you think that VPNs are "generally not meant to be used"?

Sure I read somehere something on this, obviously ISP's dont automatically know your using one fro work purposes 
 

I think you've misunderstood whatever it is you've read.  VPNs in the traditional sense are basically like a road tunnel if you like between two different roads (your connection/network and the work connection/network/intranet/server), but instead of you getting to it "normally" (ie typing something like http://127.0.0.1 into a web browser for example) you use some other software/solution to "build" a tunnel if you like between the two roads, so instead of you looking at your work folders over the public internet, the tunnel is used instead.

The adverts/endorsements you might have seen for VPN products like NordVPN are pretty much the same concept, their traditional aim is to avoid internet censorship issues or to promote privacy or to try and "hide" themselves from the internet.  A Work VPN is no different, except rather than your traffic going God only knows where en-route it can only go to one place - your work.

Anyway any provider who blocks VPNs would kill the entire concept of home working in one fell swoop.  Your issue is more likely to be something your IT department can fix/tweak, not anything Sky have done.  Contact your IT department first, then contact Sky.  If you're really that concerned about mentioning VPNs to them, just say my work from home connection using <whatever> has stopped working, IT asked me to call you, and leave it at that.

debitcardmayhem

Probably caused by broadbandshield.sky.com

Jenni_D

debitcardmayhem said:

Probably caused by broadbandshield.sky.com

Possibly a good shout. Info about it for the OP ... https://techxpert.co.uk/broadband/guides/sky-broadband-shield  

CoastingHatbox

I very much doubt that Sky Broadband have any rules forbidding VPNing to a corporate network. If the issue is not broadbandshield.sky.com, the other possibility is that your son needs to use an IPSec VPN and a setting in the router needs changing to allow/support something called NAT-T.

Don't worry too much about what those words mean, try turning off Sky Broadband shield (as posted above) and if that doesn't resolve the problem, ask your son to find out what type of VPN it is - the answer should come back either OpenVPN, IPSec or possibly something else. Let us know in this thread what the answer is.