Comprehensive Guide on Using VPN for Business Purposes

Many users interested in the organization of a secure communication channel between computers on the Internet know such abbreviations as RDP and VPN. To increase web security, it is advised to connect to remote computers or servers via VPN. For an uninitiated person, this advice may seem as a set of incomprehensible words the that only a computer expert can understand. However, everything is not as difficult as it may seem at the first glance.

First, let's look here at the situations in which a normal user who has nothing to do with network administration may need to establish a secure connection to remote devices. Initially, this feature was used for business purposes of big corporations to provide remote access of employees to company servers so that they had the opportunity to work with corporate data while away from the office, for example, on a business trip or on a vacation. 

However, later, secure access technologies to remote devices began to be used by ordinary users to organize anonymous and secure access to web resources. Nowadays, VPN application is a common thing for any Internet user, whether an IT specialist or an ordinary person.

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Business Goals and Objectives of Virtual Private Networks
The main purpose of a virtual private network (VPN) is to maximize the possible isolation of the company's data stream (of a certain group of users) from the other users’ information stream of the common network. Accordingly, the global task of a virtual network is to ensure the specified data isolation, which can be divided into the following subtasks solved by the means of VPN:

• Confidentiality is a guarantee that the data will not be viewed by third parties. 
• Integrity – ensuring the integrity of the transmitted data. 
• Availability – authorized users should be able to connect to the VPN permanently. 
• Protection of information in virtual private networks is the main ironclad guarantee of VPN service usage.

The main threat when using virtual private networks is obviously unauthorized access to data, which can be divided into two types:

• Unauthorized access in the process of data transmission over an open (common) network; 
• Unauthorized access to internal corporate networks.

That is why the main functions of information protection when transferring data over virtual networks are:

• authentication; 
• encryption; 
• authorization.

Also, note that a number of experts think that the threat to intercept packages along the route is exaggerated. The packets pass through the routers and switch providers. In other words, they do not actually enter the networks of the 3rd parties and organizations. Thus, the main threat of interception comes from the providers themselves.

Classification of Virtual Networks

There are several different options for classifying virtual networks. The most common of them is classification by architecture. According to it, all the virtual private networks can be divided into

• VPN with remote access

These networks are designed to provide secure remote access to corporate network information resources.

• Intra-corporate VPN

These are intended for the association of various structural divisions of the company or groups of the enterprises in a uniformly protected information network.

• Inter-Corporate VPN

These networks are designed to provide interaction with suppliers, customers, or partners in a secure way.

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Benefits of Virtual Private Networks

We have already identified the key features of VPN and their main benefits of use. For greater clarity, let us cite the reasons why both ordinary users and heads of departments and enterprises should pay special attention to VPN technologies.

Factors of "attractiveness" of VPN from the user's point of view:

• The cost – no costs associated with the content of own or leased lines of communication. 
• Scalability – it is simple and not limited by the physical architecture of the network. 
• Controllability – you can easily change the network configuration, add new devices, etc. 
• Simplicity – the virtual network is "transparent" both for users and for applications.

From the manager's point of view:

• VPN provides secure communication channels for individual applications, while the cost of these channels is equal to the cost of the provider's services to access the global network; 
• VPN does not require the cost of reorganizing the topology, retraining users, etc.; 
• VPN provides the ability to easily scale.

As such, using the VPN is beneficial to everyone!