Members of the University community must secure their access to sensitive systems and protect themselves when connecting from remote locations, such as while traveling or working from home. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) allow a user to route their computer’s internet traffic through a specific network while not directly connected to it. U of T offers two VPN tools for different purposes:

• UTORvpn: A general remote access VPN that protects connections and allows users to connect to the campus wireless network remotely.
• AdminVPN: Allows the owners of administrative and academic systems, as well as department administrators, to enforce strong authentication and secure connections.

Information Security also manages a dedicated Remote Desktop Gateway service for securing Remote Desktop connections to Windows systems.

• Remote Desktop Gateway (RDG): Protects Remote Desktop connections between Windows systems and replaces some of the historical uses of VPN services.

UTORvpn is available to all University students, staff and faculty with a permanent or long-term guest UTORid. Short-term guest accounts (UTORids beginning with “qq”) or other irregular accounts cannot connect to secure remote access services. Use of UTORvpn is subject to the University’s Appropriate Use of Information and Communication Technology Policy.

Access to AdminVPN and Remote Desktop Gateway is restricted to University employees who are authorized to access protected systems.