[VPN] IPSEC and Clientless VPN

[Richard Ginski]

I am being asked to consider accepting clientless VPNs (via SSL) as a replacement to our IPSEC implementation.

Currently, we have an IPSEC solution that provides, among other security 
implementations, ip tunneling (hiding internally assigned ip addresses 
while communicating to a VPN gateway.) The IP tunnelling provides an extra 
layer of protection in that once packets are decrypted at the gate, the 
firewall can then control the internal ip addresses (non public) that have 
been tunnelled. I am concerned about losing this layer of protection. 

Granted, clientless VPN's provide an easy way to have remote users access protected IT resources..because you don't have to mess with a client installation.

I am not looking for a conceptual answer here. However, I would like to 
know if anyone else has wrestled with IPSEC vs Clientless VPN (ssl) and 
what they concluded.

TIA