Sample Question:

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JSR Notes:

 

This assessment statement is for sure, at least about the implications of using a VPN, as seen by the Teaching Note, so:

General Implications of VPNs to society:

Benefits:

• Remote accessibility allows people to work home, or on the way to work, so a potentially more efficient economy.
• Less need for people to congregate and have real person to person contact (but with negative societal impacts.)

Issues:

• The societal impact of having less face-to-face human interaction, at least at work.
• The potential illegal uses of VPNs in which people can attempt to hide what they are doing.

Specific Implications of VPNs to businesses/organizations:

Benefits:

• The main benefit is added security. Particularly when traveling, an employee needs to know that the data they are sending and receiving is secure.
  • (Hackers tend to prey on unsuspecting people in coffee shops, hotels and airports, but a VPN provides the security to stop them.)
• So able to fully work without fear of data interception.
• And at a corporate scale, it helps prevent industrial espionage.
• Increased efficiency by some employees/members, if taking advantage of the time they commute to work, to work on the metro, for example.
• Less expensive than building a physical WAN.
• Less facilities/office space needed if people working significant amounts at home.
• Employees may be able to work around jurisdiction firewalls, and firewall in general. For example, a business in China can work around the "Great Firewall of China".

Issues:

• Less efficiency by some employees/members because of distractions at home while trying to work.
• Less person-to-person contact, and so more inefficient since group work is less rich.
• Interpersonal problems are harder to resolve.
• Certain illegal activities are easier.

Specific Implications of VPNs for individuals:

Benefits:

• After the birth of a child, the stay-at-home mom or dad can transition back to work from home.
• Allows for a much more healthy work environment, in which, at home, a person can go out for fresh air and a walk etc. very easily.
• On-line commerce can now occur without people worrying about theft of credit card information etc.

  

Issues:

• People can do more easily things which they later regret, or which are against their morals, through the temptations that the inherent privacy of VPNs can provide.
• People can become much more anti-social, since they no longer have to work at the office etc.

 

 

 

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This assessment statement can actually be taken two ways. From the Teaching Note, it seems to be more geared toward a general assessment of the changes in work patterns. But from the assessment statement itself it could be interpreted as evaluating ***a particular*** VPN, such as:

• Express VPN vs. PureVPN
• or Express VPN/PureVPN etc. vs. a full corporate VPN suite, complete with PPTP server

For these comparisons, you could the following criteria:

	Product X For example Logmein.com	Product Y For example HideMyAss.com
Security (Trusted vs. Secure)	"Secure", not just "Trusted
Price (and or cost/benefit)		Cheaper
Ease of use		Easier to use
Speed of connection & data upload/download speeds	same: good	same: good
Compatibility with current systems/computers (Mac/PC for example)	same: good compatibility	same: good compatibility
Scalability (how easily can it be expanded or used to a greater extent?)	same: not scalable	same: not scalable

 

Note that for your Mac computer, the Opera browser has some great privacy features, including a built-in VPN:

My own evaluation of using the Opera VPN would go something like this:

• I feel more secure using it, but for sure connections are slower when on than when it is off.
• It does not work at school, behind the school's firewall, so this is frustrating, and it means turning it on and off, and sometimes I will go home and forget to turn it back on.
• Though, I do like where it indicates it is on or off, with a quite noticeable red/blue/green rectangle just to the left of the URL.
• It is certainly easy to use - you just enable it in the Preferences.
• And you can't beat the price! Opera is free.

 

Why to use and how to choose a VPN

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VPN Summary 

- VPNs secure your computer's Internet connection to guarantee that all of the data you're sending and receiving is encrypted and secured from prying eyes.

- And this allows secure remote work.