Do I need a hardware VPN?

You can use SLATE AX wifi routers. One as vpn server at home and other as vpn client that you take with you. Of course you need to connect both routers to each other so that they can talk to each other. You can use WireGuard or OpenVpn.

XR1000 by Netgear has this feature.

Oh ok. Mine never had an issue.

I’m aware of Tailscale being something very similar, but I’ve never used it. I only started using ZeroTier as it support was added to Mikrotik routers, so I checked it out and was delighted to find that it was just what was looking for for many years.

Twelve years ago I was a beta-tester for a startup called vCider that asked for testers here on reddit in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/networking/comments/lfmr9/vpn_or_vpc_whats_the_difference/

It was the same sort of thing, but Cisco acquired them before they released to market and closed it down and I was looking for something like it for nearly a decade.

If IT has a policy, it’s backed by HR. HR will absolutely terminate employment based on a policy if it protects the company.

love how they’re acting as if they know your job and workplace better than you

you don’t even need to check the website you’re on…

50 miles apart, different state.

love how they’re acting as if they know your job and workplace better than you

As an IT manager, if I see this shit from an employee, they’re getting walked.

Have an accident while working on vacation in violation of policies and see how that works out for you.

OP didn’t come here to ponder wether this is a termination worthy offense, he came to ask how to set up a VPN.

Consequences of a cock-up are not our problem, because all we can do is wonder what the consequences would be. It could be that his IT team doesn’t even care and only enforces it because of higher-ups.

All this does is open up a massive pointless foundationless discussion when all OP asked was how to set things up.