Businesses all over the globe are experiencing a shift in the way that they operate, largely due to a change in the physical environment. With the pandemic still creating problems in many countries, consumers are resorting to e-commerce and businesses need to follow suit to stay relevant.
The best way to stay secure in a digital environment is to employ a VPN, however, most users are not familiar with how it can protect them. You can easily try it out and see how it works for you, but to understand why it is a great defensive strategy it will help to know a bit about how it works.
How Can A VPN Help?
A VPN reroutes your traffic and in doing so gives you anonymity. Whether you are connecting to a work server or connecting to a third-party service, your connection is secured and there is no way to trace the connection back to your system or your network. Most digital attacks that take place happen by compromising the network or the connection. Through a VPN you have both these bases covered and higher-end versions may also offer encryption services to increase security even further.
Businesses And Digital Security
There is no doubt about the fact that digital attacks are increasing exponentially, yet the problem is that the bulk of these attacks are targeted towards small to medium-sized companies. SMEs rarely have any security in place and one of the weakest spots in their entire infrastructure is the network.
Employing a VPN helps strengthen this otherwise vulnerable spot and not only protect the business, but also all other stakeholders that are connected to the business. Here are the most prominent benefits of a solid VPN for your business.
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Remote Access
You have resources within your office space such as IoT devices, various bits of hardware, and even digital resources that your team will need. While the on-site team can access these resources through a secure local network, you need a solution for the remote workers too. Rather than giving them access through an unsecured network, a VPN can help you improve the security while granting them the same level of access.
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Security
VPN is an invaluable tool when it comes to masking your internet traffic and ensuring that your data communications are encrypted and they are secure. Ideally, you want to use a VPN connection for all internet activity that happens within your organization. If you need to, you can even use specialized VPN solutions for particular things, such as sensors on the production line at your manufacturing plant. At a bare minimum, you can use VPN to secure internet users within the company.
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Access Control
Once you have given your remote workers access to onsite and cloud-based resources, you will also need to manage who is able to access resources. Not all employees will have the same requirements and from a security standpoint, you should limit the amount of access that different people have.
Ideally, everyone should only be able to access what they really need. Through a VPN you can make this hierarchy a lot more efficient. You can implement various access control procedures that will ensure that the person trying to access the resources has provided the credentials and is a legitimate user.
To sum up
With a bit of research, you can find the right VPN solution to meet your needs. Whether you are running a large multinational company or just a small local business, ensuring that your digital assets are secure is critical for your own business and for the wellbeing of everyone involved in the operations. Ideally, you should go for a paid VPN although there is no harm in starting off with a free trial.
