Will I need a VPN

[Greenmantle]

Been dropped in the st at work.
This means I need to take my work laptop on holiday next week.
I will need access to some servers within the NHS.net
There is already a UK jump box.

Will I need a VPN?

I suppose the answer is it will depend on the trust?

[DoctorX]

Might as well subscribe for a month, at least you can watch some UK telly if nothing else. I’m more concerned that computers which access the NHS network remotely aren’t currently using a VPN anyway.

[Nothingtoseehere]

I would assume that permission would be needed to take a laptop out of the UK. It sounds like you're trying to circumvent protocol by accessing NHS data etc. from outside the UK.

Seek advice internally on what you plan to do.

[Greenmantle]

Nothingtoseehere said:

I would assume that permission would be needed to take a laptop out of the UK. It sounds like you're trying to circumvent protocol by accessing NHS data etc. from outside the UK.

Seek advice internally on what you plan to do.

good point - I have just sent an email to ask.

[JoshSm]

So I'm confused here.

A lot of the time you'd already have a VPN set up to securely get you to inside whatever network needed to be accessed.

And if you're trying to access something that doesn't have a VPN but does have georestricted access then you're probably not meant to cheat and access it through some random VPN provider.

Either way you won't get the answer here, you'd have to ask whoever owns the network.

[Greenmantle]

JoshSm said:

So I'm confused here.

A lot of the time you'd already have a VPN set up to securely get you to inside whatever network needed to be accessed.

And if you're trying to access something that doesn't have a VPN but does have georestricted access then you're probably not meant to cheat and access it through some random VPN provider.

Either way you won't get the answer here, you'd have to ask whoever owns the network.

this is a new system to me so I don't know if it is geo-restricted or not.
most of my NHS system access is for systems not connected to a particular trust eg Life Sciences etc

[.Adam.]

If you can normally access your information from home, you could see if your router has a built in VPN, such as Wireguard. If you can set that up, then wherever you are, you are effectively accessing the internet from your router in your house.

[Tam_Mullen]

If its a company laptop and you access company intranets and systems on it chances are it has a VPN system already which you may not know is a VPN.

Do you have to do 2FA when you sign into anything which grants you access onto your work systems?

[Freakuk]

Nothingtoseehere said:

I would assume that permission would be needed to take a laptop out of the UK. It sounds like you're trying to circumvent protocol by accessing NHS data etc. from outside the UK.

Seek advice internally on what you plan to do.

This ^^^

You probably have a VPN to access the company systems and data, but the NHS may have a policy that you cannot access/work systems from abroad regardless of the VPN. I've certainly worked in environments where this was the case.

[Opapayer]

Greenmantle said:

Been dropped in the st at work.
This means I need to take my work laptop on holiday next week.
I will need access to some servers within the NHS.net
There is already a UK jump box.

Will I need a VPN?

I suppose the answer is it will depend on the trust?

Isn’t the answer “Tough, I’m on holiday. It will have to wait or find someone else to deal with it.”?

[Virtual PAH]

If you use the laptop to work from home it's highly likely already set up for remote access so just need to check it will work from abroad and if not can they do the necessary otherwise you aren't going to be working while on holiday unless it can be done over the phone.

[carl_w]

Freakuk said:

This ^^^

You probably have a VPN to access the company systems and data, but the NHS may have a policy that you cannot access/work systems from abroad regardless of the VPN. I've certainly worked in environments where this was the case.

Yes, the mad requirement of "remote working but must be located in the UK".

[Mr-B]

Opapayer said:

Isn t the answer Tough, I m on holiday. It will have to wait or find someone else to deal with it. ?

That would have been my answer too.

I don't take my work laptop on holiday.

[Opapayer]

Mr-B said:

Opapayer said:

Isn t the answer Tough, I m on holiday. It will have to wait or find someone else to deal with it. ?

That would have been my answer too.

I don't take my work laptop on holiday.

I was pretty strict with my staff. When they were on holiday, they were on holiday. No brownie points for ringing in or trying to stay in touch. If they had to do that, then they either weren’t managing their departments effectively and / or there was something they were trying to hide that might come out in their absence. I expected them to go on holiday with a flat battery and return fully charged after a good rest, that allowed them to work very hard after a full rest and recuperation period.

[.:ian:.]

I've worked for two companies that held NHS patient data and both have strict restrictions on where I could work, i.e UK only, which was dictated by the NHS.
At the very least I would expect logging in to email from abroad would flag up to infosec, but it depends on how savvy your IT department is. (Having worked with some trust IT departments, juries still out )

[cobra kid]

Most importantly, you aren't on holiday then!

[Chimune]

Greenmantle said:

Will I need a VPN?

I suppose the answer is it will depend on the trust?

The answer is - ask your IT support desk.

[Griffith4ever]

cobra kid said:

Most importantly, you aren't on holiday then!

"Been dropped in the st at work.
This means I need to take my work laptop on holiday next week."

Sounds like he doesn't have a choice. Not everyone is in a position to say "ciao , see you in a week".

I take my laptop on holiday - its my business. I log in every morning with my coffee, deal with emails, switch off. 2 months usually. Still a fab holiday, and being able to run it remotely "enables" those holidays :-)

[slievenashaska]

Greenmantle said:

Been dropped in the st at work.
This means I need to take my work laptop on holiday next week.

If you need to work then they have cancelled your holiday, so simply ask your manager how you submit the claim for them to reimburse you for the cost of cancellation of flights, hotels, etc. and that you will obviously need to be rebooking your holiday entitlement so they keep within employment law.

[Griffith4ever]

slievenashaska said:

Greenmantle said:

Been dropped in the st at work.
This means I need to take my work laptop on holiday next week.

If you need to work then they have cancelled your holiday, so simply ask your manager how you submit the claim for them to reimburse you for the cost of cancellation of flights, hotels, etc. and that you will obviously need to be rebooking your holiday entitlement so they keep within employment law.

Yeah - that works great with career progression :-) - might work in the civil service, or in some drone job, but anyone with resposibility and prospects can't really play that game and hope to move up.

Reality check needed.