A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a security tool that creates an encrypted connection between a user’s device and a remote server. The data is then sent through a secure tunnel, where it will be decrypted and read only by the intended recipient. All data transmitted through the VPN tunnel is encrypted, protecting it from interception or eavesdropping.
As a result, this tunnel acts as a private, protected pathway for data transmission. This allows VPNs to act as catalysts as the business expands beyond its first office.
When a business is expanding internationally, it becomes even more vital to manage and secure employee access to your internal databases. To ensure this data reaches its intended audience, Business VPNs also include authentication – where the VPN verifies the identity of users or devices trying to connect to the network.
This includes additional multi-factor authentication methods, bolstering a company’s pre-existing authentication protocols.
The last few years have seen an immense flurry of alternative workstyles – providing this to your employees can make the difference between high churn rates and exceeding revenue targets.
For remote workers happiest at home, productivity is bolstered by the workstyle’s sense of self-leadership and autonomy. Teams of motivated, driven employees allow a business to parse gaps in the international market and wind up similarly ambitious projects.
Furthermore, remote workstyles can indirectly drive an organization’s expansion by maintaining employees and keeping the talent your enterprise has worked so hard to accrue.
A VPN is essential to supporting a fully remote workforce, thanks to its ability to securely connect a remote employee’s device to your internal servers via an encrypted tunnel. VPNs prevent employees’ own home networks from compromising database integrity via clients on corporate devices.
Remote work doesn’t work for every team: client-facing and tightly-regulated positions require office support. For this, many employees prefer to go hybrid.
Employees sometimes report a better sense of purpose when they’re able to choose between at-home or in-office. This is reportedly particularly critical for retaining younger employees and those without kids. Whether remote or hybrid, engaged employees lead to a 23% increase in profitability, and offering them that flexibility grants employees the choice – driving better business outcomes.
Supporting hybrid and fully-in-person working styles demands a site-to-site connectivity – particularly when an enterprise wants to coordinate strategy on an international scale. Site-to-site VPNs offer a way to connect Local Area Networks (LANs) – ie, the secure and protected public networks of each individual office.
By connecting up the LAN between different offices, a site-to-site VPN is able to offer your employees a Wide Area Network (WAN) with the same encryption and protection between sites.
Furthermore, site-to-site VPNs don’t rely on a remote client/server architecture. Instead, it simply relies on a gateway on each LAN: by logging onto their on-site device, an employee from one office is able to remote access the database of another. Data being received and transmitted remains encrypted between sites.
This simplifies onboarding considerably, while still maintaining a sense of shared resources and strategy.
In 2018, hotel chain Marriott International had set its sites on bolstering its international portfolio of luxury hotels.
Having finalized its purchase of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, stakeholders were impressed by the fact their luxury accommodation offerings had doubled across Asia, the Middle East & Africa.
However, two years after the initial acquisition, Marriott realized something critical: the reservation databases of Starwood & Hotels they had purchased and began operating were compromised. The attacker had access to almost all systems, and were able to view plaintext details of:
The more they looked, the worse the breach became: the attacker had enjoyed backdoor access since 2014, and had free reign of up to 500 million guests’ personal details.
Further investigation discovered that Starwood’s own online security culture was shocking, long before its acquisition; Starwood employees battled continuously with securing the reservation system, and in 2015 a different attacker actually breached the same system and remained undetected for eight months.
In the four-year free-reign of the attackers, customers had their passports and credit card details stolen (as credit card numbers were encrypted, but the decryption keys were stored on the same server).
Not only did Marriott blindly purchase Starwood’s portfolio – but in the pursuit of maximum ROI during the international acquisition, they immediately laid off the company’s minimal security team, and failed to set up appropriate security measures until too late.
Finally, their UK branch was hit with a £18.4 million fine for violating GDPR.
Applications and websites cannot be assumed to be secure: corporate data is too valuable to risk, especially in the context of international expansion. Perimeter81’s cohesive VPN tooling secures all internet traffic, while setting a foundation of deep visibility across your entire working landscape.
Condense traffic and device data into a cohesive dashboard today and avoid costly mistakes at your enterprise’s most vulnerable period.