Growing numbers of individuals are working remotely and relying on the internet for communications while traveling. The globalization of our economies has naturally led to an increased frequency of remote access requests. But this dependence on the internet for business communications has drawn a significant amount of attention from criminal groups intent on profiting from the manipulation of data sent across networks. IAPS Security presents a VPN solution to secure business data transfers to protect valuable business information from being intercepted by unauthorized parties.
Planning a VPN solution
The traditional business security model continues to evolve as remote users have moved from connecting directly into corporate RAS office servers to access data on the remote network to using high-speed broadband Internet access through VPN networks. But cyber criminal strategies have also evolved, making it imperative for businesses to look more closely at their security needs to choose the proper VPN setup for their networks. The right VPN technology and implementation can ensure data integrity, data security and traffic privacy while the wrong setup gives businesses nothing more than an illusion of security, IAPS Security warns. Depending on a faulty security measure makes the business weaker than not having security measures at all. Workers will act without caution because they feel secure. First, businesses must evaluate and understand the associated security risks associated with remote-access VPNs. When implementing this technology, the concept of providing data
integrity and confidentiality extends the remote VPN client. The remote VPN client here has direct access to the parent’s protected network resources.
Business Concerns
Today’s businesses need to conveniently access information that can be stored on corporate databases, fileservers or intranet. Remote access to these sources demands a secure and cost effective method of accessing data as well. Most businesses have also already moved over to using the Internet for business functions, which increases their data security needs. VPN technologies have been used by businesses for several years and have become a standard for remote access. A VPN solution is the most reliable way to allow secure data access to home workers and mobile workers.
IAPS Security VPN services have two major advantages for businesses, namely cost savings and scalability. Remote access VPNs reduce costs because they are simple to implement and manage, and produce businesses savings by reducing connection charges and increasing productivity. A subsequent savings from increased security also comes from reduced data loss. As IAPS Security VPN clients connect to the corporate network through the internet, they can enjoy faster speeds that allow them to work more productively.
Security Policy Concerns
The potential savings and employee productivity increases that come with an IAPS Security remote-access VPN are significant and attractive to business. But businesses must prepare for the initial resources required for the proper planning and implementation of the technology, and subsequently to the monitoring required as with any other internet security solution. IAPS Security notes here, however, that modern VPN technologies allow for more convenient management of the solution through specially designed interfaces that require minimal configuration and monitoring.
Office security policies must also be evaluated and adjusted to work together with the VPN implementation. Policies are needed to strengthen security measures and serve as educational resources to users and system administrators. Employee practices must be evaluated and kept in check to reduce internal leaks that can cause breaches in the VPN security. Employees must not for example be allowed to alter the configuration of company-supplied hardware in order to facilitate file sharing and Web browsing outside of the office. BYOD policies must also be reevaluated to ensure that infected personal devices are not allowed to access the network.
When employees remotely allow access through the IAPS Security VPN to the corporate network, an untrusted host gains access to the secure intranet. The IAPS Security VPN connection offers secure connectivity between the client computer or device and the corporate network, but it does not offer personal security features. It cannot protect the client from outside attack if the remote host is compromised. An attacker can use the compromised system of the employee to gain entry into the corporate network.
A solution like the IAPS Security VPN connection is set up to provide data integrity, data confidentiality, and authentication services. Sadly, most employee devices have minimal security measures in place. Criminal intruders know that the end-user device is a much easier target than the corporate network. The unsecured employee device when connected to the Internet is open to a number of attacks to harvest passwords, infect the device with viruses, worms and malware, and could be manipulated to serve the attacker in a DDoS attack or used to control access to the corporate servers and databases. Users of the company VPN should then also be prevented from opening a VPN session to the corporate office, and leaving the connection established. This reduces exposure to the corporate network, especially for businesses with remote users. IAPS Security emphasizes that employee personal devices that are authorized for use with the VPN connection must be properly secured with adequate and regularly updated firewalls and antivirus software.
Businesses today more than ever need to beef up their internal security practices and take full advantage of VPN technology. For more information on IAPS Security VPN solutions for businesses and other available VPN technologies for home and office use, please browse our top 5 provider reviews.
