VPNs Are More than Just Accessing Blocked Websites and Streaming
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have become increasingly popular in recent years as a tool for accessing blocked websites, streaming content from other countries, and protecting privacy online.
However, VPNs offer many additional important benefits, especially for businesses, that often get overlooked. Here are some of the key ways that VPNs provide value beyond just accessing restricted content:
Enhanced Security and Privacy
One of the core functions of a VPN is to encrypt internet traffic so that it cannot be intercepted and monitored by third parties. This prevents hackers, cybercriminals, and even internet service providers (ISPs) from gaining access to sensitive information transmitted online such as login credentials, financial data, intellectual property, etc.
By routing traffic through an encrypted tunnel, VPNs provide an extra layer of security beyond what standard connections provide. This makes them invaluable for protecting business assets and safeguarding customer data.
Remote Access Capabilities
VPNs enable employees to securely access a company’s private internal network and resources when working remotely. This allows staff to productively work from home, at client sites, while travelling, or anywhere with an internet connection.
VPNs facilitate collaboration, file sharing, use of intranet sites/tools, and more regardless of location. This remote access functionality has become especially critical supporting today’s distributed and mobile workforces.
Site-to-Site Connectivity
Rather than just connecting individual devices, VPNs can also be used to link entire networks. This allows geographically separate offices of an organization to function as if part of the same LAN.
Site-to-site VPNs between data centers, branches, or with partners enable seamless communication, resource sharing, workload balancing, disaster recovery systems, and more.
Access Control and User Management
IT administrators can leverage VPNs to tightly control access to sensitive systems and data. Granular permissions can be established to dictate who can access what resources.
Activity logging provides visibility into who is accessing systems and what actions they are performing. Security features such as multi-factor authentication help prevent unauthorized access.
Split Tunneling Capabilities
An advanced VPN feature called split tunneling allows administrators to specify which traffic goes through the VPN tunnel versus the open internet. For example, traffic related to internal databases, applications, or file servers could be routed through the encrypted VPN while general web browsing traffic is sent directly. This prevents bottlenecks and minimizes latency by reserving VPN capacity for sensitive communications only.
While VPNs are certainly useful for accessing restricted content and retaining privacy, they offer many additional essential security, connectivity, and management features. Particularly for enterprises, leveraging VPN capabilities can facilitate secure collaboration, bolster defenses, enable telework, and support critical IT infrastructure needs. VPNs deliver capabilities that power the technology backbone of modern businesses. If you want to use a reliable service provider, click here to download a VPN that is trustworthy, faster, and cheaper.
Conclusion
VPNs provide a wide array of valuable functionality extending far beyond just accessing blocked websites and streaming content from other countries. Key business advantages include enhanced security, remote access capabilities, site-to-site connectivity, advanced access controls, and split tunneling features. For today’s distributed organizations, VPNs play a pivotal role empowering secure communication, collaboration, and infrastructure management. Businesses that fully utilize VPN features can operate far more productively, securely, and efficiently.
