A VPN provides an encrypted “tunnel”. It protects data sent over the Internet and systems connected to it .

The recommends is the third in a five-part Security Summit series called Working Virtually: Protecting Tax Data at Home and at Work. The Summit is an effort that is comprised by the IRS, state tax agencies and the private-sector tax industry, including software companies.

Practitioners who use the public Internet, instead of a VPN, can find criminals gaining access to their office network by accessing their remote Internet sessions.