A company’s standard approach to data protection reflects how it handles its business data and its clients or customers. For this reason, businesses pay attention to data protection.
Snooping and cyber-attacks constitute the most significant challenges to the security of the business data of companies. As a measure to meet these challenges, most companies deploy virtual private networks (VPNs). In addition, they invest in specific business VPNs, which may differ from an unlimited free VPN intended for personal use.
Read on to know more about business VPNs, their types, and how they differ from consumer VPNs.
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What are Business VPNs?
A business VPN refers to a network involving an encrypted web connection. It enables the employees of a company to connect to a company’s network or IT resources securely without the risks of data snooping or cyber-attacks.
A network based on data encryption is safe from advertisers, competitors, and Wi-Fi hackers as it prevents them from intercepting the data of the connected devices. The data encryption feature of business VPNs can avoid surveillance activities on the devices connected to it, including government agencies.
The standard operating procedure of a business VPN resembles that of a consumer VPN so far as creating an encrypted connection is concerned. However, the purposes for which they are used draw a line of distinction between both these forms of virtual private networks. While a consumer VPN is intended for commercial use, a company uses a business VPN to connect the members of its workforce to its internal network.
Investing in a business VPN pays dividends to a company in many ways. Offering a secured internet connection aside, it also encourages secure data sharing and remote data access.
Types of Business VPNs
There are many reasons to use a VPN. However, you need to deploy the right kind of VPN to reap its benefits. Depending on your requirements, you can choose a consumer VPN or a business VPN.
Business VPNs that are in use these days belong to one of the following categories:
1. Remote Access VPNs
A remote access VPN connects individual users’ devices to a company’s internal network. It involves a VPN client as well as a network access server (NAS). A VPN client is a software program that a user needs to install in their device to connect to a dedicated server (network access server) linked to their company’s internal network.
2. Site-To-Site VPNs
Site-to-site VPNs provide companies with the best cybersecurity solutions when connecting employees from two or more locations. In this form of VPN, employees from multiple locations connect to a single network.
It differs from remote access VPNs in connecting the staff members’ devices to a company’s internal network. Unlike a remote access VPN, it does not require installing a VPN client on users’ devices. Instead, a company’s local network houses installing individual users’ devices to remain connected within a specified radius.
Typically, this radius covers the entire office premises. Thus, the employees stay connected to the VPN client of a site-to-site VPN as long as they remain within their office premises.
How is a Business VPN different from Consumer VPNs?
In many ways, a business VPN and consumer VPN resemble how they establish an encrypted connection. As a result, you might think that they are similar. But in reality, they are different from one another in many ways.
The primary objective of a consumer VPN is to help a user get access to a website that is restricted or banned in their location by bypassing the geo-restrictions. On the other hand, a business VPN shields a company’s IT resources from cyber-attacks and protects its business data from snooping.
This apart, a business VPN offers a dedicated server. As a result, users who use this form of a VPN get a specific IP address for their devices. But consumer VPNs connect several users on a VPN network. For this reason, a consumer VPN keeps changing the IP addresses of the devices connected to it to conceal their location-related information.
A business VPN connects several users at once and caters to their needs on a network. It enables a company to control the multiple accounts of its staff members through a universal account. With a business VPN, a company can track or monitor the websites visited by its employees in each session.
Conclusion
At present, securing business data is a major challenge to all existing companies. Business VPNs have emerged as reliable cybersecurity solutions to counter the menace of cybercriminals or data snooping or cyber-attacks. Are you planning to set up a new business or operate your existing business without a business VPN? If yes, think about using a business VPN to secure your business data.
