Gateways are a popular way for companies to enable remote access to their home-based Web server products. Instead of accessing a device in the home directly, the user interacts with it through a "Gateway" proxy server set up to manage the security issues. However, gateways are problematic:

• A gateway requires a very secure computing center with a large amount of upstream and downstream bandwidth. This makes it expensive to run. Some companies charge their customers more than $100 per year to use their gateway for remote access. An AutoSSL-based solution is far less costly.
  
  
• A gateway adds an unnecessary point of failure to a remote access solution: If a gateway is ever unavailable, then the resources to which it enables access are also unavailable. In contrast, the AutoSSL remote access solution has no additional dependencies.
  
  
• Gateway solutions use SSL only between the gateway and the browser. This means that private data can be intercepted at other points in the transmission. In contrast, an AutoSSL solution encrypts data from end to end, which makes it as secure as e-commerce sites.
  
  
• Some people feel that their data will remain private at the gateway because they believe that the company running it is trustworthy. This trust, however, is misplaced, since other forces may act on this data. For instance, in late 2007, there was controversy over decisions debated in Congress over domestic surveillance programs. These programs were conducted in support of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and were done in cooperation with several telecom companies that were seeking immunity due to their involvement. Any gateway with unencrypted data running through it will ultimately be threatened by such programs, perhaps without the user's knowledge.
  
  

For a more detailed explanation of gateways and their inherent problems, please see our white paper, Issues in Securing Remote Access Servers.