Businesses have changed since technology advances. Many organizations have remote workforce now and they widen their branches all over the world. They can manage remote work due to new tools that technology offers such as online meeting applications, appointment calendars, and cloud storage. Now, there are so many organizations that offer remote working as a choice. Although remote work has super advantages, it has some adversities in terms of online security.
The main reason why businesses are concerned about their online security is that they can not control their remote workforce appropriately. While everyone at the office premises can directly dial the business network, remote workers should have to use the public Internet which is not safe enough.
A VPN Definition
Too much sensitive data is sent and received between remote workers and the headquarter. They put company secrets, private information, and personal data on the line by using the public Internet. Hacking, snooping, and phishing the public Internet user is quite easy for cyber criminals and that is why we are concerned about the Public Internet. To eliminate the risks of public Internet – which is inevitable in remote work- enterprises use VPNs.
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is a tool that encrypts online traffic between the company network and the final user. Even if a cybercriminal achieves data, he/she can not use it because VPN encrypts private data and makes it incomprehensible. In this way, VPNs make business interactions safer. It also creates a virtual tunnel to data traffic. Thus, sensitive data, private information, and other significant company assets can be protected from malicious people and cyber attacks.
Business VPNs
A VPN is not a new technology, it has been used for more than ten years. On the other hand, business VPNs that are more focused on business protection and try to meet organizations’ requirements are new. Business VPNs are specialized for business environments and needs and that is why enterprises mostly choose business VPNs to provide total security to their organizations.
The main difference between a business VPN and a consumer VPN is their purposes. Consumer VPNs offer connections to remote servers and let their users achieve more websites or applications. However, business VPNs’ prior goal is to connect remote employees to the company’s internal network safely. After a short brief on business VPNs, let’s take a look at the important features that you may consider when choosing a VPN for your business.
Which Should You Consider While Choosing the Best VPN For Your Business?
Each enterprise needs a different kind of protection. To choose the right VPN protection for your business you must analyze your enterprise first. What are your weak points, how many remote employees work in your organization, what type of business you process, and what kind of data you deal with are the main questions.
After deciding on your business requirements, you can start searching for VPN opportunities. Never forget that even small-sized enterprises need VPN protection and there are several VPN alternatives they can afford. Although several brands offer business VPN services, we will explain remote access VPN that is compatible with almost all businesses.
A Remote Access VPN
Employees should access company resources safely. So, controlling how employees access office LAN is crucial in remote access. Their priority should be to enable their remote workforce to reach company files safely. There are two main risks for remote users when connecting remotely. The first one is unauthorized users. An appropriate VPN should eliminate unauthorized users from company resources to keep them protected. The second one is a public view. The company’s assets should remain private and concealed. The only way to protect them is to cut off public access.
When picking a VPN, companies must be sure that a VPN provides multi-level security. Company assets and data traffic should be encrypted and tunneled. A safe connection and providing privacy are the everyday needs of any business. The remote workforce uses different devices -sometimes their own devices-, to connect business resources from cafes, libraries, or any other places, and they live in different locations. So, the proper VPN should offer maximum protection in terms of devices, Internet connection, and location. These are the most important elements of remote work and companies should give weight to them.
Your remote workforce should access company assets simply without compromising on security. Many legacy protection tools slow down business and they make it hard for remote workers to run their businesses effectively. If you want both work quality and safety at the same time, be sure that your VPN offers both.
The VPN that you choose should mitigate the risk of data breach and decrease the attack surface. When you can keep your business away from data leakage and malicious attack, your online experience will be exceeded. This is an amazing opportunity for your business to stand out among competitors.
Final Thoughts
Now, so many companies offer remote work opportunities and it has become more and more popular every day. To take advantage of the benefits of remote working without compromising their business online security, enterprises should get help from security tools such as VPNs. More than that, they should use remote access VPN which is more specialized in business requirements and offers more comprehensive protection. Remote or hybrid working does not go anywhere. Businesses should learn how to improve their remote/ hybrid work quality and protect their employees from everyday risks.