Vpn to connect to server

Redriddick

Morning,
I have a friend who works in a gp surgery. They use the medical software Socrates which runs from a main server in the surgery.
They want to be able to use Socrates from at home but need access to the sever, I assume that a vpn will achieve this?
What vpn would ye recommend or am I on the right path here?

rocketspocket

Not a trivial exercise TBH - can you friend not install a remote connection tool to their work machine & use something like teamviewer to connect to it - that would only take a few minutes to setup?

Redriddick

rocketspocket wrote: »

Not a trivial exercise TBH - can you friend not install a remote connection tool to their work machine & use something like teamviewer to connect to it - that would only take a few minutes to setup?

I don't see why not, these are fairly easy to setup

rocketspocket

yea - sounds like the best approach - if you were to go down a VPN route you would need the following;

• Static IP Address in the surgery (to Route back to the office)
• A VPN Client for your friend
• A Router in the Office to accept the VPN connection (VPN Server)
• The correct routing protocols in place on the VPN to access the office server
• With all that in place you're then down to configuring the server application & have it work over a VPN (maybe easy, maybe not)

Its do-able & a lot of large companies do just this (with a full IT Team supporting it) however for you then this makes much more sense IMHO

stefanovich

Redriddick wrote: »

Morning,
I have a friend who works in a gp surgery. They use the medical software Socrates which runs from a main server in the surgery.
They want to be able to use Socrates from at home but need access to the sever, I assume that a vpn will achieve this?
What vpn would ye recommend or am I on the right path here?

A reverse ssh tunnel might also work. You can set up an ssh server at home. Connect from the office to the home server and then forward the Socrates port back over the connection.:cool:

Redriddick

Thanks for the reply guys, are there other setups besides teamviewer??
Just want to give them a few options price wise, teamviewer is 15 quid a month

stefanovich

Ssh or VPN were already suggested.

Redriddick

stefanovich wrote: »

Ssh or VPN were already suggested.

Sorry should have said programs, I.e. alternatives to teamviewer

Niska

Redriddick wrote: »

Sorry should have said programs, I.e. alternatives to teamviewer

Anyplace Control has a free option - their Basic Plan. Only used it within a VPN, but there is a connect via Computer ID (rather than IP) so should be fine:

http://www.anyplace-control.com/buy.shtml

ED E

rocketspocket wrote: »

yea - sounds like the best approach - if you were to go down a VPN route you would need the following;

• Static IP Address in the surgery (to Route back to the office)
• A VPN Client for your friend
• A Router in the Office to accept the VPN connection (VPN Server)
• The correct routing protocols in place on the VPN to access the office server
• With all that in place you're then down to configuring the server application & have it work over a VPN (maybe easy, maybe not)

Its do-able & a lot of large companies do just this (with a full IT Team supporting it) however for you then this makes much more sense IMHO

A DNS record and Open on is all that's needed. They're already running a server that can thus host it. Fairly fire and forget.

Redriddick

ED E wrote: »

A DNS record and Open on is all that's needed. They're already running a server that can thus host it. Fairly fire and forget.

Can you explain this ed

Redriddick

Are teamviewer, anyplace etc. safe to use, is the encryption safe?

AndrewJRenko

Tread carefully here. You are exposing patient information on the Internet.

Do Socrates have a recommended solution?

stefanovich

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Tread carefully here. You are exposing patient information on the Internet.

Do Socrates have a recommended solution?

Best answer so far

Redriddick

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Tread carefully here. You are exposing patient information on the Internet.

Do Socrates have a recommended solution?

I will be contacting them prior to doing anything, for the exact reason you have stated!!!

AndrewJRenko

Redriddick wrote: »

I will be contacting them prior to doing anything, for the exact reason you have stated!!!

Actually, whoever supplies and supports the servers that the Socrates system sits on might be better positioned to answer. It is really a 'remote access' question, not a Socrates question.

Johnboy1951

This might suit?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnyDesk

65535

My alternative to team viewer is remoteutilities.com
Free licence for connections up to 10 sites.
Never had an issue with it.
If you prefer you can setup your own server to link you and the remote site.

https://www.remoteutilities.com/index.php?src=app

Clareman

This popped up on the main page so I have to throw in my 2 cents......

Under GDPR health data is needs to have additional security considerations added to it so considering even a well known, tried and tested solution like Teamviewer would be dodgy, I'd imagine the GP has some kind of malpractice insurance that would include wrongful disclosure of patient data so I'd tread extremely carefully.

From a technology point of view there's LOADS of cheap, easy way of doing it, from a data point of view I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

PaiDragon

Redriddick wrote: »

Thanks for the reply guys, are there other setups besides teamviewer??
Just want to give them a few options price wise, teamviewer is 15 quid a month

Neorouter is a free option and almost zero configuration I have used this myself for many years and find it does everything I need. Eg proxy shared network folders and remote desktop

65535

I also use neorouter - you need a 'server' - win 7 would do.
I do prefer remoteutilities.com

AndrewJRenko

65535 wrote: »

I also use neorouter - you need a 'server' - win 7 would do.
I do prefer remoteutilities.com

You would be happy to base the security of private medical information on an unsupported operating system?

65535

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

You would be happy to base the security of private medical information on an unsupported operating system?

Not my decision.
It also works on 'supported' os'es

AndrewJRenko

These are the kind of people that you're up against

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/10/fbi-dhs-hhs-warn-of-imminent-credible-ransomware-threat-against-u-s-hospitals/