Remote Work Series Part 4: How VPN Empowers Smart Businesses
Anatomy of a Secure, Remote Workplace Part 4 of a 5-part series of blogs on how to create a secure remote workplace.
Virtual Private Networks helps in creating a shielded, secure way of accessing the internet and/or private servers of an organization.
“Think of it as an underground network of layered tunnels that connect one place (or node) with another. “
A VPN creates secure, controlled paths for us to access data remotely, allowing people access to data for their work. People and businesses use VPNs to connect to other private networks through the internet, giving them the freedom to:
Securely access private data remotely
Control computers through remote access
Make
their
work
independent (remote)
location-
Protocols like RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) helps to create apps that allow a computer to connect remotely.
VPN for Businesses VPN comes in different flavors, created for different types of consumers. Consumer VPN and Business VPN are the two main distinctions among VPN types.
Consumer VPNs allow people to connect to the internet through a secure tunnel, where they can shield their identity, browse the web anonymously (in most cases), and gain access to more parts of the web that may be restricted. Along with all the features Consumer VPN provides, Business VPNs also focus on providing a VPN that has more network and data security. Businesses that have confidential data stored on secure, private servers can safely allow access for employees and third-party vendors (service agencies). Businesses can give employees the benefit of being location-independent and flexible timings, all because of remote access VPNs. Employee productivity is then only a matter of how a company’s remote work policies.
Remote Access VPN Remote Access VPN gives employees access to data and computer resources available at a physically distant place based on their permission level.
Login credentials and certificates help to authenticate a secure connection between an employee’s device and the company’s private network. Encryption and security protocols keep the data exchange between two nodes secure.
Example: Remote Access VPNs can allow third-party vendors secure and limited access to your company’s data for work.
Direct application access eliminates the need for a person to access the whole network. Instead, they can access a particular application to get their work done directly.
Two main parts of a VPN are a Network Access Server (NAS) and VPN client software. People connect to the NAS through the internet to use a remote access VPN.
Cloud Computing
Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (popularly known as AWS) are two of the most widely used cloud application development services that work on a payas-you-go model.
Here’s how cloud computing services help you:
Build and deploy dynamic web apps
Store data on secure servers
Scale up your software?
Manage large databases
World-class cloud computing technology
and
infrastructure
Data storage policies and laws govern how data stored on external servers should be handled to keep people from misusing other people’s data and empower user privacy by prohibiting data collection without people’s permission.
AWS Example Dropbox used AWS development for the longest time until they moved to their private servers. Businesses pay to use world-class infrastructure and security for their products and services. Our teams at Net Solutions regularly work on Azure web services and AWS to securely manage code, data, and other resources for our clients.
Remote Security Companies also use VPNs for web filtering and network traffic control. You can restrict employees from accessing irrelevant web content along with filtering network traffic to restrict unauthorized access or attacks from hackers. Firewalls are probably the most essential and widely used network security feature. You can block network access from specific geographical locations or limit your network to a cluster of locations. Firewall monitoring helps you keep notorious hackers and unwanted traffic away from your network.
Secure VPNs make it possible for companies that store public or private data, to work with external agencies without compromising sensitive data — mostly for outsourced work.
Secure (Remote) Culture — Habits Security isn’t something that’s enabled by technology. Secure habits can go a long way too. Employees can work on a secure computer, connected over a secure network, but still let others shoulder surf.
Physical security of devices is essential — we encourage employees to work from secure locations where the data isn’t exposed to problems like shoulder surfing.
As a best practice and added security measure, at Net Solutions, we train our employees to recognize potentially harmful activities online. We use web filtering to block any identified harmful content and caution employees about the content they access on the web.
Our systems continuously rotate and test password strengths. We only use secure passwords created through random password generation tools — making our workplace safer.
We rely on cybersecurity technology that enables data access only by using secure and proper credentials.
VPN and Vendors Communication is indispensable when it comes to remote work. At Net Solutions, our teams communicate for work through secure software like Slack and Microsoft Teams, eliminating the need to rely heavily on long emails. Vendors (or service agencies) work on the building, testing, and maintaining SaaS products, databases, cloud technology, etc., on cloud platforms like Azure, and AWS. Vendors who maintain software for other companies also take regular backups manually (or automatically) to ensure data safety in case of a threat or a disaster.
As a third-party who accesses private networks or data, agencies must follow all the best case practices to secure their operations and always adhere to security guidelines. At Net Solutions, we follow a security-first approach and take privacy very seriously. That’s why we follow all the best practices to ensure safe and authorized access to our clients’ data. We provide Company-issued devices to our employees for better security. While this isn’t necessary for remote work, it gives our clients an added layer of protection.
Our reliable network infrastructure has endured cyberattacks and led us to work with large enterprises and fortune 500 companies. Source - https://www.netsolutions.com/insights/how-vpn-works-for-work-from-home/