If iba systems (software or hardware) communicate with each other via public networks, it is essential that the connection is protected by additional measures. Typically, firewalls with VPN connections are used for end-to-end encrypted communication. The systems used should not connect directly to other systems without encryption and without a VPN connection.

Connections between locations and also connections from offices to industrial networks should also be secured by means of a firewall or VPN connection in order to make it difficult or impossible to read or manipulate the data traffic. When configuring the VPN connection, it is important to ensure that only secure algorithms are used and that authentication is secure.