Two major things should matter to you if you own or manage a business: making sure you keep your data secure and allowing your remote workers to connect to your servers without creating a breach in your security. They seem a little contradictory, but you can address both issues by using a VPN or Virtual Private Network.
What is a VPN?
A VPN is a digital technology that allows you to protect your data, especially when you have to use internet connections to transfer information. If you’ve got a sub-contractor or remote employee who needs to log in to your server, he or she may be doing so at home or in a public location, and you’ve got to make sure giving them access won’t make your entire server vulnerable.
You’ll want to eliminate any risks that may come with using unsecured network connections, including:
- Eavesdropping
- Data tampering
- Packet thefts
As scary as it seems, the reality is almost anyone can attack you using a myriad of packet sniffing tools online. Your only hope lies in creating a virtual tunnel that only you and your remote workers can access and that can’t be penetrated by anyone else. In most cases, the data that passes through VPN tunnels are encrypted, ensuring your data is useless to anyone successful in maliciously accessing it.
What are the advantages of using a VPN?
A VPN can protect you from losing your data, but let’s have a look at all the reasons you should start using a VPN today.
1. Grow your workforce.
Employees no longer need to be bound to a desk in your corporate building to get work done. Freelancers and digital nomads have made the world their home – and office. Studies show that almost 55 million Americans, about 35 percent of the general workforce, have now adopted the freelance lifestyle.
If you’re serious about the future of your company, you should start looking at remote staff to fill in your vacancies. That would be almost unthinkable without a proper VPN.
2. Expand your business on a global scale.
Apart from hiring employees from across the world, you can actually open branch offices and subsidiaries in other countries. Whether you’re doing it for the tax benefits, the superior but cheaper workforce, or simply the lower total operating costs, it doesn’t really matter as long as your data and communications is kept safe and secure. With a secure VPN connection, communicating back and forth and getting work done efficiently is a breeze.
3. Travel securely and easily.
If your business requires a 9-to-5 in-the-office schedule, you may still need to account for business travel. While emails and calls don’t require special attention, problems will arise if you need to log in to your servers to get work done.
Make sure you and your staff are all protected by setting up a VPN tunnel connection.
4. Make collaboration safer.
Depending on your business, collaboration may be essential. Bringing people together to work on a task will always pose a security challenge, since not everyone is conscientious about working on secure gadgets. While one employee might have a squeaky-clean laptop, another may have a machine riddled with worms, viruses and malware.
Unless you want your servers compromised, put up a secure VPN connection (along with other security measures) to keep the infections at bay.
5. Keep customers happy and safe.
If you have a brick-and-mortar business with a free Wifi connection for customers, your clients will be happy people. But, they won’t be too happy if their data is stolen or their gadgets are infected while using your free connection.
If those users plugged their hacked gadgets into your internal network, you may not be too happy, either.
A good way to avoid lawsuits and backlash from unhappy customers is to protect your network by passing all connections through a router VPN.
Get a VPN now
Still not convinced? There are even more advantages to adopting VPN technology today, and luckily, doing so isn’t very difficult. If you’ve made it this far without a secure VPN, congratulations are in order, but it’s time to make the change! Find out what this amazing and cheap technology can do for you today.
