Should I Have A Business VPN For Work?

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What Is A VPN?

A VPN is a virtual private network allowing users to safely connect to another network over the internet by encrypting the connection from their devices. A VPN will make the internet connection safer and more secure and provide both privacy and anonymity while online.

What is a Business VPN?

A Business VPN offers secure remote access to internal networks which remote employees use while they work from home.

Many organizations choose traditional perimeter security to protect their corporate networks. Business VPNs improve perimeter security operations to give remote workers and branch office employees a virtual network where they can have access to the corporate network through a public or private internet connection anywhere around the world.

With perimeter security, a company’s IT department can build a business-only security network within the business’ physical structure and locations that in turn will align the computer network security footprint to the corporate real estate footprint. The alignment between physical structures and the computer network enables network security professionals to simplify network access visibility and management.

Branch office employees, remote workers, or staff traveling outside the secured corporate perimeter should have a business VPN for secure network connectivity while working anywhere.

In general, organizations use two different business VPN connections to keep their employees secure when outside of the headquarters. Remote Access VPN for the remote workforce and Site-To-Site VPN for branch office workers.

To explain, a Remote Access VPN is a temporary connection between workers and headquarters that is normally used for access to data center applications. The connection could use IPsec but it is commonplace to use an SSL VPN to set up a connection between a user’s position and a VPN gateway.

A Site-To-Site VPN is a permanent connection in order to function as an encrypted link between offices. This is usually set up as an IPsec network connection between networking equipment.

Remote Access VPN

Remote-access VPN allows remote users secure access to the company’s network infrastructure. It encrypts all traffic that remote employees send and receive from the network. This enables the workforce to securely access and uses data, applications, tools, and resources that are located in the data center and headquarters.

Also, a remote access VPN offers secure access by creating a tunnel between the company’s network and a remote user that is private, even when the user connects to the network through a public internet connection.

Remote access VPN gives a company peace of mind about data being tampered with or intercepted while traveling outside the company’s network between the secure perimeter and remote workers.

Remote access VPN does have its limitations. With the growth of remote workers and cloud-based applications, companies are discovering remote access VPN is not optimized for the cloud or particularly secure.

Business VPN vs Personal VPN

A business and personal VPN differs depending on if users connect their devices to a company network or a personal network. If employees want access to applications, data, or resources, they need to be connected to the VPN maintained by their employer from the employer’s laptops, phones, or other devices. They can connect to the company’s network from personal laptops or devices as long as the devices have a VPN on them to expedite the connection.

The Limitations of Business VPNs

Despite the popularity of remote access VPN and site-to-site VPN, the growth of the remote workforce with greater adoption of cloud-based infrastructure and cybersecurity applications is making perimeter-based network security techniques difficult and more insufficient. Companies need to look beyond VPN capabilities to guarantee that devices connecting to the company’s network from outside the company’s perimeter, the data network from outside, data moving between the devices, and the network remain secure. Some of the best VPN alternatives for businesses include efficient options like identity and access management, privileged access management, third-party security platforms, and Zero Trust network access.

VPN Security

VPN security allows business VPN users to keep their privacy and secure their data when connected to the internet. Companies must ensure VPN security for their remote workforce by using remote access VPNs with site-to-site VPNs for their branch offices.