Mobile workforces and remote teammates are the new and modern realities of today’s business life. Statista’s report shows its popularity by saying that 30% of professionals work from home. Especially web-based companies have employees worldwide so they can cover enormous timezones, lower expenses, and find the best talent regardless of location limitations.
Increased attention to remote work also brings serious cyber threats since hackers consider it much easier to hack into a remote employee’s network. That’s where remote access VPN services come in, encrypting and protecting all the communication between remote members and corporate networks.
Everybody heard about VPNs one way or another, but remote access VPN might not be familiar to you and there is much to talk about. Let’s see the pros and cons and everything you need to know about remote-access VPNs.
What is remote access VPN?
Remote-access VPNs allow remote employees of a company to access corporate resources via a secure, private gateway. When employees log in to the VPN, it creates a secret tunnel directly to the corporate network so that data travels safely and free from any potential eavesdropper.
By using a remote access VPN, you can guarantee that your remote team members don’t jeopardize the corporate network by connecting to it from public Wi-Fi or unprotected devices. Since companies can’t be fully sure about these two issues, remote access VPN takes all the necessary steps to provide secure access even if connections or devices aren’t protected.
Basically, remote access VPNs provide employees a virtual office connection; the security levels are the same as when they’re actually plugged into their network in their physical office. The only difference is, now they don’t physically have to be there.
They are one of the most modern solutions for companies that want anonymity and privacy on the internet to protect sensitive information. Remote access VPNs facilitate cybersecurity for these companies by making sure all data is being transferred safely. They also encrypt the transferred data so it is nothing more than gibberish until it arrives at the other party without being compromised.
Pros of remote access VPN
Remote-access VPNs are great solutions for both hybrid and remote work models. In addition to the security level they provide and the practicality for both companies and end-users, they are incredibly easy to implement. Click here to learn more about remote access VPN implementation before we jump into the pros.
Secure remote work
Remote access VPN services provide secure access to remote employees, allowing companies to find talent worldwide while also saving significant resources. However, if they don’t have a private, secret tunnel they can communicate from, all the corporate data would be at risk.
But now, companies can effortlessly create a private gateway with a simple software solution thanks to remote access VPNs, and fulfill the very first step of remote cybersecurity which is masking communication between parties.
Cost-effectiveness
The competition in the VPN market pulled the prices down drastically. Especially if you have a relatively small company, you don’t need a complicated cyber security system.
Remote access VPN services can be perfectly adequate to ensure a secure connection in a hybrid or remote work environment. Not to mention they’re maintenance-free and don’t require hardware or an IT team to operate.
Using personal devices for work & connecting from public Wi-Fi
Company-provided devices are a financial burden for businesses and sometimes inconvenient for employees. Most people already have perfectly capable devices and they want to use them for work. But security is a significant concern.
Remote access VPN allows people to work from their personal devices without sacrificing security. It’s also great news for those who love to work at coffee shops as these services can secure communication even from untrusted public Wi-Fi.
Cons of remote access VPN
No VPN solution is perfect for every case; there are different services for specific purposes. Thus, let’s see the downsides of remote access VPNs that might deter you from using one.
Lack of granular security measures
Remote access VPNs focus on the secure and encrypted transfer of data between the remote employee and the corporate network. However, they certainly lack granular security measures as they are not fundamentally a verification or validation service.
Without using granular security practices such as constant verification or network segmentation, your network might be vulnerable to internal data breaches which cost companies a whopping $4.6 million in 2022 according to Ponemon Institute.
You may be protected with a private tunnel, but if someone within that tunnel poses a risk, your measures won’t do much.
Potentially slow connection depending on the vendor
This of course depends highly on the vendor and how many servers they got and how diverse those servers are. But let’s say that your provider doesn’t have the greatest network of servers around the world. You might face slow connection issues that decrease productivity and cause problems in your business operations.
Need for a software client
Remote access VPNs require a software client on the users’ devices. This means that they need to set up the VPN solution for personal devices which might be annoying or challenging for end-users.
It can also be a burden on the IT department if they are the ones who have to follow updates or install procedures.
Conclusion
Remote access VPNs help companies adopt the remote work model by offering secure remote access to the work from home team members. These VPN services are the very reason why big companies can afford to send and receive sensitive data outside of their network from thousands of miles away.
These VPN solutions also significantly decrease your cybersecurity expenses as the competition in the market is more than ever and prices continue to plummet. They protect corporate data for a small price by encrypting communication between employees and the private network and creating a private tunnel.
But as always, everything has its challenges and remote access VPNs are not perfect. Carefully evaluate the cons we mentioned above before deciding on the solution. Make sure your cybersecurity preferences perfectly match your needs