A VPN is an amazing tool for multiple use cases. With a VPN, you can access just about any website on the web. You can enjoy internet freedom and get access to your favorite streaming channels from anywhere. But did you know that a VPN is also a helpful tool for someone who works from home? Given below are five important reasons why remote workers need to use a VPN.
1. Improved Security and Privacy
In case you’re not aware, VPNs can provide your device with the best online security and privacy. Depending on the VPN service that you use, you might find many important security features that are sure to be of use once you start working from home.
A VPN service, like PureVPN, offers end-to-end encryption to its users. This type of encryption is considered to be unbreakable. It ensures that all of your online traffic passes through a secure protocol, or tunnel, before it reaches its destination on the internet. This level of security ensures that even the most confidential files that you send over the internet do not fall into the wrong hands.
The best VPN services offer complete protection against online surveillance. Surveillance can be of many types. It doesn’t have to be a government agency trying to keep track of your daily activities. Sometimes, even competitors might stoop low enough to try to peek into your private data. In these cases, a VPN ensures that your private data always remains safe from the eyes of snoopers.
2. The Portability Factor
What makes a VPN so special is its portability feature. Most VPNs allow you to use your account on multiple devices at a time. PureVPN, for instance, can be used on up to five devices at a time. This adds a certain level of portability to your work.
For instance, you might be using multiple devices while performing any task from home. It might be that you have to access a file on your smartphone or your tablet instead of your workstation. You can still ensure the same level of online security on these devices by installing the VPN client app in them. This would help you make use of the same security features that are generally available to you on your workstation.
3. Protection on Public Wi-Fi
Not all remote workers spend all of their work time at home. Some, who are outdoorsy, might want to work while sitting at a café or any other public location. This often helps them enjoy a certain atmosphere that generally isn’t available to them at their homes.
But while working on the outdoors has its benefits, people are often forced to use public Wi-Fi available to them at these locations. This is often bad news, especially from the security point of view, because Public Wi-Fi is usually unsecure. Sometimes, they are even run by hackers! It is easy for even the most lame-end hacker to hack into a public Wi-Fi network and monitor everything that is going on. It also makes it easier for them to hack into any connected devices.
VPNs can offer the right kind of security in this case. Even if the network you’re connected to is hacked, your device can still remain secure with the help of a VPN. As discussed above, premium VPN services, like PureVPN, offer end-to-end encryption. This feature ensures the security of your device on any network.
With a VPN, you can continue to enjoy the convenience offered by a public Wi-Fi network without ever having to worry about security.
4. Accessibility to Remote Servers and Files
The online world is more dangerous than you think it is. In this scenario, it would be suicidal to leave any of your important remote files and data out in the open. It is usual for people to have the necessary credentials in order to access these files on their systems. However, credentials might get stolen, which is why they’re not considered safe enough to be the only security checkpoint on the server.
This is where a dedicated IP address comes in. Whenever you connect to the internet, your system starts using the IP address provided to you by your ISP to send queries online. Most of the time, the IP address that you use is shared by many other users. You don’t usually get the exact same IP address that you might be using in your previous session. Each IP address that you use can be used by any other system. But the same won’t happen if you use a dedicated IP address.
A dedicated IP address is an IP that is strictly under your own use only. This IP address cannot be used by any other person, without your permission of course. In order to ensure the security of a remote server, companies often provide you with a dedicated IP address that is whitelisted to access that server. This adds another layer of security to any data that is stored in it.
There are two ways for anyone to get a whitelisted IP address. One way to get that is to remotely connect to the work network. This is a complicated method that often requires the IT team to open a back door on its network. Many times, this request is rejected for security purposes.
The easiest way to get a dedicated IP address is via a VPN. For instance, PureVPN is one VPN service that offers a portfolio of dedicated IP addresses and even a whole remote server. Using this IP address is very easy, as it can be accessed through the VPN client app on any device. Whitelisting these dedicated IPs makes it easier for any business to ensure that only authorized people are able to access important files on their server.
5. Secure Access to Work PC
Sometimes, it is impossible to carry your workstation to your home. This might be because of security reasons. Or it might be because your workstation lacks the portability that is required to carry it and from your office.
While you spend most of your time working on your personal computer, you might be forced to require access to your workstation at times. So how do you get access to your workstation from home? It requires the use of RDP or Remote Desktop Protocol. This is a tool that helps you connect to another workstation even if it isn’t connected to your system directly.
However, to ensure that others do not get the same level of accessibility to your workstation, you can make use of the method mentioned above to ensure the security of your system. This is done by restricting remote access to a whitelisted dedicated IP only. Once this is set up, you can get access to your workstation from home anytime you want.
Which VPN Should You Use When Working from Home?
While there are hundreds of VPN services available on the internet, not every VPN is fit for use in a working environment. You should especially avoid using free VPN networks as they are considered unsafe and slow networks by most experts.
Even premium VPN services might not be able to provide all the services that you might require. It is important to go for a good business VPN service in this case. And when it comes to offering the right support to businesses or remote employees, PureVPN always ranks higher than all the other VPN services.
PureVPN is one of the most reliable VPN services on the internet. It is known to offer the best security and privacy features to its users. The service offers access to over 2,000 servers in 180 cities. Its portfolio of security and privacy features includes multiple encrypted protocols, Internet Kill Switch, WebRTC Protection, and more.
PureVPN also offers dedicated IP addresses from 8 different countries. To businesses, it offers multiple unique features, such as the ability to control all the VPN accounts in use by the workforce on a single interface, as well as the option to purchase a dedicated server.
PureVPN is definitely the right option for you to choose if you want to enjoy complete peace of mind as well as all the security features when working from home.
Author Bio: Rameez Ghayas Usmani is a data-science and SEO enthusiast. He loves to apply machine learning algorithms to the digital marketing industry in order to amplify the marketing results. He spends his time coding, traveling, reading books and occasionally writes to spread his knowledge via blogs and discussions.