As cybersecurity threats continue to pose bigger and bigger risks, it has become imperative for business professionals, employees, and freelancers to practice safe internet surfing strategies.
These often include tools like VPNs that will not only hide your IP address and let you connect to the internet safely but will also encrypt your communication with the internet. This makes sure that even if someone does end up hijacking your communication with the internet, they can’t make sense of it, keeping them from exploiting your data.
Not only are VPNs a handy tool to help you connect to the internet safely, but they are a valuable investment when you’re traveling and want to avoid connecting through public Wi-Fi connections—which are known not to be safe.
This article will walk through some more reasons why VPNs are almost a security essential for business professionals, remote employees, freelancers, and solopreneurs. Before getting into more reasons why the tool is important, let’s talk a little more about how employees, businesses, and professionals can use them.
Why is a VPN useful to employees?
One of the best ways employees can benefit from a VPN is by working remotely, from home or on the go safely, without posing security risks to the organization. Given the COVID-19 healthcare crises, this also means that employees and companies can follow healthcare SOPs and do their part in reducing the spread of the virus as much as possible without the risk of data loss and theft.
Another advantage of using a VPN for employees and companies is a more flexible work lifestyle that encourages greater freedom with a more balanced work-life approach. Regardless of the healthcare crisis, working from home or on the go, whether partially or fully, is a great option for employees with kids following the home-schooling culture, female employees with babies, and employees with health issues.
How businesses, remote employees, and freelancers can use VPNs
As discussed before, a VPN essentially allows you to connect to the internet through a remote and secure server. This hides your original IP address and lets you borrow that of the server, making your communication with the internet completely anonymous, significantly decreasing your chances of getting hacked into.
This, in turn, makes it safer for your organization or clients to communicate with you and send confidential data over the internet without running the risk of landing in the wrong hands and being exploited.
If these weren’t reasons enough, here are some more that support VPNs in professional and business settings.
Antiviruses are excellent, but they are no longer enough
When it comes to cybersecurity, generally, the first thing we think of are antiviruses. Even though such software and others like firewalls and antimalware are important, they certainly aren’t enough to secure all corners.
Great for detecting and getting rid of viruses and other malicious software, the powers of such software are limited. They can’t prevent hackers and cybercriminals from attempting to hack into your devices.
VPN tools, especially those specially designed for use in professional settings like PureVPN for business, can shield your device from hackers by hiding your IP address, preventing a criminal from even attempting to get into your machine.
As an additional layer of security, even if a hacker can detect your device, built-in encryption algorithms will render their efforts to break in useless because all communication between the device and the internet will be encrypted.
As a brilliant preventative tool, a business VPN will upgrade your network security and ensure that the same benefits can extend to teams working remotely.
Public Wi-Fis and hotspots are not secure enough for business communication
Public Wi-Fis are most prone to getting hacked and hijacked because they come with the least security integrity. These Wi-Fis are open to all, letting a large number of people connect to them, making them the ideal places for hackers and cybercriminals to hang out.
Since the networks are not encrypted, any cybercriminal who has already infiltrated a public network can read and understand your transferred data with ease. This puts all the connected systems on this network at risk of being set up with malicious software designed to capture sensitive information like access credentials and email history, among other data points.
This type of data leak can get dangerous, really fast. Once a criminal has access to your data, they can exploit this data, use it against you to extort money out of you, and even assume your identity to commit crimes, setting off a whole stream of legal issues involving your name.
A professional quality business VPN tool is designed to keep unique business security needs in mind. It can provide the optimal level of encryption that is needed to keep your data secure.
Cybercriminals will try to take advantage of your company’s data
Data is the real pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Companies invest millions of dollars every year in mining their customers’ data and analyzing it to improve their marketing efforts and target their customers more intelligently.
Several companies also pay millions of dollars to buy datasets belonging to organizations with a valuable clientele to expand their brands. This is something many hackers and cybercriminals use to their advantage. They can steal, sell, and even exploit consumer and customer data for profit.
Examples of big companies that recently suffered data theft include Mimecast, Pixlr, U.S Cellular, and Nebraska Medicine, to name a few. Using a professional quality business VPN will ensure that all communication between your device and the internet is end-to-end encrypted with military-grade security.
This means that your data, passwords, and client information will be safe from unauthorized hands and ensure that your team can connect to the office network safely from anywhere in the world and enjoy the same level of security.
Professional VPNs also let you test geo-blocked content
Testing is a crucial step when it comes to development. Whether you’re developing an app, a website or software, you’ll need to run tests on code, algorithms, and even features that your competitors are offering while maintaining anonymity to create a truly valuable product.
Sometimes, geo-blocking can get in the way. A professional quality business VPN will let you change your location to access content that is blocked in your country so that your product can be tested against a broader range of features and cater to the needs of a global audience.
FAQs
How do I set up a VPN for my office?
Setting up a VPN for your office isn’t difficult. All you have to do is sign up for a PureVPN for Business account (link), fill out the necessary details, and proceed to the payment. Once you complete the process, your PureVPN for Business credentials will be emailed to you, which you can use to log in and set up the necessary controls for your team.
If any additional help is required, please feel free to reach out to our team, we’re always happy to assist you!
What is VPN for remote work?
You can use a VPN for remote working to reduce the risk of your online activity getting hacked. The VPN service will connect you to your work network safely and securely, letting you access your files, accounts, and information stress-free.
Can I use a VPN at work?
If you’re working from your office, you are already connected to your work network, which means it’s unnecessary to use a VPN. However, if you have to access geo-blocked content for work-related research or testing, you can use a VPN to unblock all the sites you want.
Final words
Are you convinced that using a VPN is the best and most straightforward way to upgrade your security and remove the risk of data loss and other cybercrimes? Get in touch with us (link) over email and request a free demo of PureVPN for Business!