Especially for industrial process data and other important measuring results, it can be necessary to disclose these data to third parties. There are two aspects concerning data protection:
- A suitable encryption of the data and
- An authentication of the communication partners concerned.
These security features can be provided by every application using suitable protocols for example. Alternatively, this security can also be managed and provided by one central location. The benefits of this central approach are the one-time implementation of the security functions and the lower maintenance effort. Such a centrally provided security is called Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN tunnel connects computers or networks via already existing networks with this.