That is, if you have configured your firewall correctly. This can be especially important for businesses and people with sensitive information on their computer systems. A very neat function most hardware firewalls have is the ability to securely connect the local area network to other local area networks in different locations over the Internet, thus creating a Virtual Private Network (VPN). With VPN you can safely share network resources with remote offices or play games with your friends as if you were on the same LAN!