In today’s world, most of life’s necessities are done online. We do everything from banking, shopping, paying bills, researching, to looking for directions and reviews for a particular store all online. For businesses, having an online presence is quintessential in thriving in today’s society. In everything we do online, having security to protect our valuable information is not only a necessity, but it is also vital. With technology comes great responsibility. Often, we hear about cyber attacks or access to personal information has been breached. Unfortunately, it has become the norm.
What’s a VPN?
A VPN is a virtual private network. When you go online, pieces of information are sent back and forth between your device and the internet. “Why do you care?” Say, for example, you’re a business related to travel. Your customers access your website and enter pertinent information for their booking. Your customers wouldn’t want that information made public, especially their payment information. As the business owner, you wouldn’t want to lose your customers because of a data breach from a cyber attack, nor would you want your sensitive business information made public. You need to protect both your company’s data as well as your customer’s information. So, again, what’s a VPN? A VPN is used as a “middle-man,” if you will. As data goes back and forth between you and the internet, that information can normally be accessed and read in plain text. Data includes who’s accessing it, what kind of device is accessing, where is the access coming from, and what we’re accessing to just name a few. That data should remain secure, private and encrypted. A VPN is used to protect the data as it travels throughout the internet. Most describe it as a protective “tunnel,” and others see it as a “body” or “data guard.”
Why Do I Need A VPN?
The answer is simple, privacy. You wouldn’t want someone taking your mail and opening it without your knowledge, right? Of course not. As a business owner, implementing a VPN service, such as TorGuard, can give businesses a safe online environment to do business. There are many benefits in using a VPN service, benefits that businesses should take advantage in using. For instance, not only is a VPN service used to protect data, but it will also inspire customers to continue to seek out your business because you’ve taken the extra step in protecting their information. They will know they are transacting with a reputable and safe business.
Do you or your employees normally go on business trips? Certain parts of the world filter and/or block certain access to online services and websites, and certain places leave you feeling unsafe to even get online. A VPN service can help secure and bypass certain restrictions so that you may connect back to your company’s network, safely and securely. A VPN can also grant secured access to your company’s network so your employees can work remotely anywhere. This, in turn, will boost productivity and give your employees that flexibility they may need.
Beyond Business Needs
Okay, so we’ve discussed how important it is to protect our information and how using a VPN service can do that for our business. How about personal use? Can a VPN service be used for personal use? The answer is, yes, of course. Have a tech-savvy relative, or perhaps want a VPN service to use personally? A VPN can also be gifted and you can definitely use it for yourself. Let’s say you are traveling somewhere. You want to relax and watch your favorite show that’s exclusive to your streaming company’s subscription service. You’re in your hotel room and don’t have access to it and you also find out that it’s not available in the country your vacationing in. Enter the VPN service. You can use a VPN service to access and watch your television shows as if you have never let your home. Perhaps while on vacation, you forgot you were to buy a gift for someone for a special occasion. You go online to your favorite online retailer just to find out they keep giving you local availability results and pricing. You need access to information that’s relevant to your local area back home. You can gain relevant information using your VPN service. You can set it up so that when you access a website, it would be as if you are still back home accessing it on your computer. If not just for anonymity, use a VPN service for privacy.
By now you are probably wondering about cost. Normally VPN services vary in pricing. However, for basic needs, you will find that many services offer economical subscription pricing. No matter what option you choose or what the intended purpose a VPN service will serve, subscribing to a VPN service is essential in today’s world of technology.
