Virtual Private Networks, more commonly known as VPNs, seem to be everywhere these days. Most cybersecurity articles mention VPNs as standard security tools now. And hardware companies, including HP, are now including the software as standard on their new devices.
But most people still think of VPN as the preserve of individual users, not business entities. And there are several reasons that would prove them wrong. Above and beyond increased privacy, VPNs can offer a business a lot.
Here we go over three reasons why your business needs a VPN, but first what exactly does a VPN do?
What VPNs Do
As their names suggest, VPNs generate a private browsing network by routing your connection through the VPN provider’s private server as opposed to via your internet service provider (ISP). In this respect, the server acts as an intermediary of sorts, and it shields your actual IP address and thus physical location and identity.
In the process, your data transmissions and traffic are encrypted, effectively hiding any information by scrambling it into unreadable gibberish. So you can see how using a VPN as an encryption tool is a smart move for your business, after all, if your company’s internet activity is hidden, it can’t be found readily or lead a threat actor back to your business.
Three Reasons Your Company Needs VPN Protection
Better Security
While VPNs are most often thought of as privacy tools, they offer some very real cybersecurity benefits as well, which is especially important now in the wake of the pandemic and the associated shift to remote working models.
Even if you have a small business with a minimal number of employees, you probably store company resources in the cloud, and you probably have staff who work remotely. Or perhaps you hire remote contractors on occasion. In these cases, a VPN subscription can make a huge difference to your company’s cybersecurity if each of your staff members uses a VPN any time they’re working. Using a VPN means staff can safely and securely interact with your company’s online systems and processes without the risk of their activity being tracked.
VPNs Are Affordable
It might not sound like the very best selling point, but when it comes to value for money, it’s really hard to beat VPNs. You have a couple of choices here: you can go with VPN services, opt to protect each staff member’s work device, or cover your entire office network with a VPN router.
Whichever option you choose, it’s an eminently affordable way to protect your company’s sensitive data, and that of your clients, too. For less than $100 a month (for a business-wide plan), your company can have military-grade encryption that keeps threat actors out. And as an added plus, it shows your company’s dedication to data protection, something that can make a huge difference in the eyes of the law and regulatory bodies should you fall foul of a cyberattacker.
Geo-location Independence
We mentioned already how a VPN reroutes your IP address through a private server, the knock-on effect of that is that a device’s true IP address is hidden. So if you have staff working in countries with very strict internet access laws — think China — you can skirt the state’s draconian rules by hiding your staff’s online activity.
Additionally, your staff can use the internet as if they were in their home country, so the search result pages and the like appear as they would in your company’s home nation.
A word of warning here, the benefits of VPNs do extend across the board and VPN providers, but companies should be cautious of free VPN providers. These companies are notorious for selling user data to third-parties, so stick to a high-quality paid subscription to avoid data leakage. And with VPNs coming at such a reasonable cost, there’s no reason to choose the suspicious free option. VPNs offer a clever way to bolster your company’s online privacy and cybersecurity.