Why is Using a VPN Important for Small Businesses

Last Updated on August 6, 2022 by Umer Mukhtar

These days, VPN is becoming more critical than ever for both individuals and companies due to the increasing cyberattacks and data breaches that affect people worldwide. However, VPN offers a cheap and secure way to work over the internet. Still, companies and organizations use another type of VPN that is slightly different from individuals’ VPN. Check this if you want to see the best VPN services.

A simple way to describe how VPN protects our data is that VPN (a virtual private network) hides your connection while using the internet. So, in this article, we will talk about how it is essential to start using a VPN, not only on your personal devices but also in your business, in addition to the types of business VPNs, and how it could be used to secure your businesses and avoid data breaches.

What is a business VPN?

Business VPN is different from what we use on our device, and it’s a VPN that allows companies branches wherever they are to be connected with the HQ over the internet. This means that companies can communicate with their branches using an encrypted tunnel.

You can use two types of business VPN depending on your business. However, we will discuss what they are and how they can be used in companies.

1. Remote access VPN: remote access VPN is used for remote employees. If you have many employees who work from home or anywhere around the world, you should use this type to secure their connection with the company. Moreover, this will prevent many cyberattacks that could target your employees to get unauthorized access to your company’s local network.
2. Site-to-site VPN: this type is for connecting all your company’s branches over the internet, and it won’t cost you a lot of money like a leased line solution. Furthermore, all your company’s traffic will be encrypted and secured.

The benefits of using a VPN in your business are more than you think, so we will list some of them below to help you understand how it is vital to use this feature in your business.

Secure connection

The main reason for using a VPN service is security, especially if you have business in multiple locations. However, VPN protocols like L2TP or OpenVPN are reliable. These protocols use a powerful encryption algorithm such as 256-bit (AES) or 128-bit (AES) algorithm, which will encrypt your sensitive data and keep it out of reach of any hacker.

Using a VPN, whether it’s remote access or site-to-site, will prevent MITM attacks and protects your company from data breaches.

Affordable solution

Actually, there are many ways to connect your company’s branches, such as a fiber solution leased line, and the cheapest way is to use a VPN. There are many VPN service providers out there to choose from, and just make sure to know how to choose the right one for your business.

Easy to maintain and configure

This is one of the most important features you can have. Unlike the other solutions, you can set up and configure your connection quickly. Also, it’s not hard to detect problems in the VPN connection, which will keep your business going smoothly.

Safe connection for your remote employees

You don’t need to worry about hackers monitoring your employees’ traffic because VPN will encrypt all the data, preventing hackers from getting any useful information. But you should educate your employees about cyberattacks and how to avoid them, especially your remote employees.

Also, VPN will be the right solution for you if you have employees worldwide or travel to countries that block your platform.

Nothing is perfect in this world

Unfortunately, VPN has some cons that you should know because it’s old technology. We will list some of these possible disadvantages when using a VPN for your business. However, it’s still a good solution even with these disadvantages. 

1. No optimal privacy. Your VPN service provider could collect your online activities. Furthermore, some websites and apps you may use will collect some personal data even if you are using a VPN. You can read the VPN policy about collected data and ensure no valuable data can be collected from you.
2. Slower connection. Of course, your connection will be slower than usual because of the encryption and decryption of your traffic.
3. Hackers may find a way to bypass. Unfortunately, hackers could use different ways to get unauthorized access into your company’s internal network, and VPN will just make the process harder.

There are many alternatives to VPN, especially if you have a large number of remote employees, such as remote desktop service (RDS), which has a good performance compared to VPN connection, or zero-trust network access (ZTNA), which offers better security compared to VPN but has issues in connection speed like the VPN.

Conclusion

We saw how VPN can be helpful in your company and why you should use it. However, it still has some disadvantages, but it’s not a reason not to invest in it right now. Also, your business could be a target for hackers, and you don’t want to lose your clients because of that. So, keep your business safe with minimum cost by using a VPN.

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