Teleworker Access (VPN) to Office

About The Health and Safety Partnership

The Health and Safety Partnership (THASP) are a Birmingham based business specialising in the recruitment of Health & Safety, Environmental and Quality staff, temporary and permanent. They place new recruits in both public sector and commercial organisations. As well as office staff they have staff visiting customers premises and working from home at various times, all of whom need secure access to the office network.

The Requirements

The business operates around a specialist recruitment system called “ITRIS” as well as the usual office-based applications. Staff need regular access to ITRIS and various public folders on the network and THASP needed to deliver this to their remote workers as well as office staff. There was also the need to take away the temptation of recreational Internet use, or access to web sites which could present risk to the company. This could include, for example personal email, social networking sites (e.g. Facebook) and other Internet distractions, particularly for temporary staff.

The Solution

Netlink IT are THASP's IT supplier and following detailed evaluation of the requirement, the recommendation was made to use DrayTek Vigor 2820n routers.

Richard Tubb, Director at Netlink IT explains their process:

“ Once we understood THASP's requirements we had no hesitation in recommending DrayTek. We’ve been selling DrayTek products for some time and it's a brand we know we can rely on for businesses who are serious about security and reliability for their remote network. The configuration options are comprehensive so we were able to set up a secure VPN connection for the remote workers and use the web filtering capabilities to restrict access to web sites, as well as block potentially harmful file types.”

THASP now have a system that not only meets their requirements but also offers excellent value. With the help of Netlink IT, Vigor 2820n routers were installed and a Virtual Private Network (VPN) was set up to provide a secure link across the Internet for remote access. DrayTek's Content Security Management (CSM) was also utilised to set up web site blocking.

THASP Topology

Within the office network are the main office PCs. These have access blocked to certain categories of web sites and also potential harmful file types. The two teleworkers each also have a Vigor 2820n (wireless version) router on their own home ADSL lines; the routers create encrypted VPN tunnels to each other for company traffic to flow securely. Within the home, other family members can access the Internet but are blocked from the office networks. Field workers can also connect to the office using a VPN connection to the office router from client’s sites using VPN client software.

“We needed a simple but highly secure way for our home workers to access the office systems and the ability to restrict the use of ‘recreational” Internet use during working hours. Minimal maintenance and easy management were also essential. DrayTek's broadband routers did the job brilliantly and setup was fast!”

Paul Bailey Company Director, The Health and Safety Partnership