What is a business VPN and how does a business VPN work?
A business virtual private network (VPN) provides end-to-end encryption for your company’s internet connection. It delivers a secure web connection to devices, regardless of where your employees connect to the internet. This ensures your data is encrypted, private and protected from bogus Wi-Fi connections, cybercriminals, competitors and advertisers.
Since the pandemic, fundamental working practices, company policies and employee preferences have evolved. And although lockdown measures and movement constraints no longer apply, hybrid working, bring-your-own-device schemes, and a blurring of work and leisure boundaries are here to stay.
Not only have these societal changes exposed a larger portion of business activities to security threats, they have also encouraged cybercriminals to devise new ways to exploit security loopholes. As a result, the need for companies to invest in a robust business VPN has intensified. Read on to learn what a VPN is and why it is useful to business.
What Is a Virtual Private Network (VPN)?
A VPN is a service that protects your internet connection and maintains your online privacy. VPNs create an encrypted tunnel for internet traffic, disguising your online identity. The encryption takes place in real time and makes it difficult for third parties to track activities and steal data.
What are the benefits of using a business VPN?
The main benefits of VPN for business are that it encrypts data packets and ensures anonymity. It does this by either encrypting end-user data or by creating an end-point connection where traffic is encrypted.
This ensures heightened security, particularly against man-in-the-middle (MIM) attacks, where a malicious actor creates an intermediary position between an end-user and the business, either to eavesdrop or to impersonate. This can put a business at risk of data breaches and ransomware attacks.
A VPN also prevents your employees from leaving traces of the websites they’ve visited, in the form of search history and cookies. The encryption of cookies is of particular importance as it prevents third parties from gaining access to confidential business information, such as employee data, financial information and other sensitive and business-critical content.
Another benefit of business VPNs is that they can support mobile platforms, usually offering a mobile app version of the desktop solution. While still providing protection, these mobile offerings are not resource intensive, ensuring internet traffic remains encrypted without excessively impacting battery life.
In contrast to personal VPNs, business VPNs also tend to provide dashboard-based centralised tools, enabling administrators to control access and monitor sessions. This provides an additional layer of security and reduces the amount of time required to identify any data anomalies and suspicious activities. As well as being easier to manage than multiple personal VPNs, opting for a business VPN will also save on costs.
Disadvantages of VPN for business include the potential to add latency into the system, as well as the small potential risk of an attacker gaining access to a remote employee’s VPN credentials. This may allow unauthorised access to all applications and data on the network. However, the benefits of implementing a business VPN far outweigh any potential negatives.
What types of business VPNs are available?
There are two different subdivisions of business VPN, namely remote access and site-to-site.
Remote access VPNs create a temporary connection between each employee and the company’s internal network, wherever the employee is located. When a user needs to access the network, they activate the VPN client, establishing an encrypted tunnel that connects to the network without exposing the details of the traffic. Remote access VPNs offer a significant security advantage for remote workers.
A site-to-site VPN is a permanent connection designed to function as an encrypted link between individual offices. The VPN client handles multiple individual user requests at once, and is hosted on the local network at each office location, rather than on individual devices. This means employees at each office location can access the shared network without using a VPN client individually. However, if they move beyond the office, they lose access.
Neos Networks offers businesses ultra-safe, highly reliable site-to-site VPN options, designed to avoid routing traffic through the public internet. These include dedicated IP-VPNs, which can start from as little as a few hundred pounds per month, and allow businesses to adjust network performance to meet their needs, pushing certain traffic to the front of the queue as required. Ethernet VPNs are another robust option, offering high, reliable bandwidths, which can be easily tweaked to suit a wide range of needs. They offer simple scalability, with simple-to-implement network add-ons and the ability to add or remove locations at speed.
What is the difference between a personal VPN and a business VPN?
As we’ve already established, using a business VPN allows employees to access work tools, applications and resources on any device, while maintaining a high level of security.
With a personal VPN, safety, security and anonymity are also high on the priority list for users, as many consumers want to prevent intrusive monitoring. Although a personal VPN doesn’t provide many of the tools afforded by a business VPN, it does offer a refuge from cybercriminals.
In addition to the security benefits, consumers may also use a personal VPN to break geo-restrictions, accessing entertainment and information that is otherwise unavailable in their country of residence. Variations in subscription rates and product pricing are also offered to different countries and regions, as well as different rates for airfares and hotels, regardless of a flight’s arrival or departure destination. These can be strong secondary pull factors for consumers.
Explore your VPN options with Neos Networks
Neos Networks is well placed to support customers with their VPN by providing expert guidance on connectivity options. To find out more speak to one of our experts.
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