By using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), members of the campus community can maintain an encrypted connection between their devices and the campus network while off-campus, at no additional cost.

However, in some cases, the use of a VPN is not required for accessing many of the university's IT services, especially while on campus or in the United States.

You do not need VPN for:

• Campus email (Google Mail, Outlook)
• Google Apps or Office 365 (includes Microsoft Teams)
• UMass Library services (including access to library databases)
• Zoom
• Secure Online Storage at UMass Amherst
• SPIRE

You do need VPN for:

• Access to campus IT services while abroad (i.e. in countries where access to services such as Gmail is blocked)
• Accessing secure servers on the campus network
• Meeting department requirements for accessing protected resources, such as protected information, internal applications, and more
• Connecting to network file shares/departmental shared drives 

UMass Amherst IT asks that you not enable your VPN unless it is necessary to access your work.

In addition to creating unnecessary overhead for the service itself, VPN use can also affect the performance of applications such as videoconferencing or streaming services. It can also potentially impact the performance of devices running multiple tasks in the background.