How a VPN Works for Remote Workers
What you need to know about VPNs and how they work.
You are working from home, laptop on your kitchen table and logged on to your corporate network. Work as usual as it gets in these times. You've seen a few articles that as a remote worker or as someone who leads remote workers that you should have a VPN connection, but is it clear why and what is a VPN? Not likely. This is our attempt to de-jargon the tech and explain what a VPN is and how it works, hopefully demonstrating why you need it.
What is a VPN: VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It gives you a virtual network that provides a private connection to the internet. The purpose of a VPN is to keep your and your companies information private.
How does a VPN work: A VPN is a middle man of sorts. Without a VPN a connection to your network would go like this; your computer workstation to an internet service provider (ISP) like Telus, Bell, Shaw etc to your corporate network, hopefully through a firewall. Where a VPN gets involved is in between your computer workstation (laptop, phone, desktop, tablet. etc. ) and your internet provider. A VPN is a private host, that encodes or encrypts the IP address of your computer workstation while you are on it and using it. An IP address is a unique number given to everything connected to the internet or a network. Encoding or encrypting it hides this number. When using a VPN the connection map would go; workstation, VPN, ISP, corporate network. Hiding your IP address means that hackers can't identify you or where you are going. They are blocked.
How does the encryption work: To keep things as simple as possible, encryption is typically performed by the use of an encryption key and follows a specific protocol to encode and decode the IP address in question. There many different kinds of encryption but all involve using complex computational formulas to hide and protect your data.
When to use a VPN: Really it is a good idea to use a VPN at all times but especially if you are working remotely.
We hope that your questions have been answered and if you have any more or want to implement a VPN to your network please contact us below!
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