Lawyers, labour consultants, accountants: 5 practical ways in which a Business VPN can protect your work and data
Are you a lawyer working away? A smartworking accountant? Do you provide consulting services at clients’ premises? If so, read this article to learn why you should use a Business VPN to connect to a network other than your own. A VPN for business is a valuable professional ally because it helps protect highly sensitive information while guaranteeing secure remote access to professional content wherever you are, even abroad.
So, what exactly can a VPN – a virtual private network – do for you when you work remotely? Here are five practical ways in which using a VPN for remote work can make a difference to professionals and small businesses.
Work from home security
Public Wi-Fi security
On a business trip, you are highly likely to use hotel or airport lounge Wi-Fi to complete a presentation or access your corporate cloud. What could happen without a VPN? Imagine you are waiting for your flight and want to check your email. The moment you connect to the public network and access your mail server, a hacker intercepts your traffic, reads your email and steals your login credentials. You don’t know it, but you have just suffered what is called a man-in-the-middle attack. With a virtual private network, no hacker can see what you do online, even on open Wi-Fi networks.
Accessing national services and portals, even abroad
If you are abroad and need to access essential international websites, portals and services like National Insurance, Inland Revenue, or corporate intranets, you may encounter access limitations and geo-blocking. This is because, for security reasons, some public portals and corporate networks choose to restrict access from foreign IPs. In some cases, the site may not function properly or may not show certain sections.
In these cases, a VPN is absolutely indispensable. Irrespective of where you are physically located, all you need to do is connect to a server in another country to simulate a presence there, bypass geo-blocking and gain access the content you want, while still enjoying an encrypted and protected connection.
Privacy and data security
This aspect is often overlooked. Surfing online without adequate protection endangers the security not only of your own information but also that of your employees, collaborators, suppliers and customers, risking potentially enormous economic and reputational damage.
If you think data breaches only concern big tech companies like Meta, Amazon and Google, you are wrong. Very often hackers and cybercriminals choose to target professional firms or small businesses that fail to pay attention to IT security, underestimating the need for proper tools and protective infrastructures to prevent data breaches.
When dealing with sensitive data, health, legal or financial information on a daily basis, keeping it secure is not just common sense in today’s fully digitalised world, but a legal duty.
Data privacy is as crucial for individuals as it is for companies, because it represents a key element of protection, trust and accountability. It means maintaining control over your personal information and protecting yourself against abuse or misuse that may damage brand reputation or personal security.
Using a VPN for business travel is one of the tools that cybersecurity experts recommend to protect privacy and client data, since, as we have seen, VPNs change your IP address and encrypt your Internet connection, preventing potential intrusions.
Access to international websites and content
If you work with international customers or suppliers, a virtual private network is indispensable. As we have seen, for security reasons, some institutional and professional sites and portals restrict access based on your geographical location. With a VPN, you can simulate your presence in a country other than the one in which you are physically located.
For instance, do you ever need to consult public registers or legal databases in non-EU countries, access tax or customs portals, use SaaS software for foreign markets or monitor the pricing strategies of foreign competitors by accessing local versions of their sites? With a VPN you only need to connect to the server of the country or geographical area you are interested in to bypass geo-blocking and access the financial resources you need.
Whatever your profession, whatever the size of your company, and wherever you are, a VPN is indispensable to the security and privacy of your work.
You are working from home and, as always, you have to access business management systems, dashboards, customer and supplier databases. You may also need to consult or send confidential documents like balance sheets, contracts and court procedures. You even have crucial calls and meetings on your agenda to finalise agreements or submit reports. To do all this, you rely on your home router and perhaps use your own laptop or smartphone. Without a VPN to protect your connection, your home network can become a point of vulnerability – a potential entry point for eavesdropping and data breaches. Have you ever thought what would happen if all the information you work with were to fall into the wrong hands? Your clients’ confidentiality, the security of your work and your own professional reputation would be severely compromised.
A VPN creates an encrypted and therefore secure tunnel between your device and company servers, ensuring cybersecurity and protecting resources and internal communications. In this way, even remotely sharing files with co-workers or customers is absolutely secure. Many premium VPNs also offer additional security tools that protect you from malware, intrusive advertisements, dangerous sites and trackers, and warn you in case of data leaks.