24/03/20

VPN – A virtual way to stay secure

Maintaining online security is always vitally important if you are remote-working – but this has taken on even greater significance with so many people home-working in the current situation.

The number of people accessing the internet is growing by the day in the present coronavirus crisis but how can you be sure the way your employees are working is safe and what measures can you take to ensure they remain so?

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPN has the benefit of creating a secure connection between virtually any device your employee may be using and another server over the internet. It creates a secured encrypted tunnel which will hide an IP address and help protect online data and privacy.

The encryption is vitally important because if someone were to hack the internet traffic all they would see would be a meaningless display of numbers and letters – a code which protects your business data from:

  • Malicious third-party involvement
  • Website tracking
  • Surveillance
  • Insecure public Wi-Fi

VPN is a simple piece of software which will help your business stay safe at a time when everyone is at potential risk every time they click onto the internet. It allows you to choose from dozens to hundreds of VPN server locations worldwide – keeping browsing activity private and safe from hackers.

A device is connected to another server through the secured, encrypted tunnel allowing employees to browse the internet using that server’s internet connections. VPN can be installed in the workplace or at home with this added layer of security, which is why it makes VPN so beneficial for remote working.

Easy installation – but beware

You don’t need any new or additional equipment to install VPN – it can be done online in minutes. But there are a number of options out there and some ARE NOT SAFE and could well result in providing the hacker or other ‘interested’ third parties with the very situation you are trying to avoid.

This is why we would always urge you to speak to an IT specialist before doing anything you may regret later.

It’s important to get the right advice in helping you come to your decision and your IT professional will be able to provide you with the information you need to get the right product for you while avoiding the pitfalls of a potential security breach.

For more information about VPNs, call us on 01743 290588 or email katy@pcnetsolutions.co.uk