Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM December 2019 | Page 32

TECH
DAVID ALCORN
Franchise Owner
NerdsToGo League City
www.nerdstogo.com/location/league-city-tx/
Keep YOUR ONLINE ACTIVITY
PRIVATE with A VPN
W
ith convenience being a major
factor when choosing an outfit to do
business with, many users are unable
to accommodate due to the inability to
access the company assets necessary
ensure maximum results.
At one time it was only affordable to the big
corporations. A lot has changed since 1996, when it was
first introduced by Microsoft. The main goal was to share
company files between corporate offices, which could
thousands of miles away. Once the underserved market
of small businesses was identified, third party VPN
providers started sprouting up all over the place, and that
was the end of a “members only” tool.
A virtual private network, or VPN, is a technology used
to securely connect to the internet, hide your IP address,
and protect data by encryption, or scrambling the data
while in transit and unscrambling it once it reaches
its destination. With VPN technology, an intercepted
file would be useless as it did not reach its destination
– which is the only place that it can be decrypted, or
unscrambled.
30
MOMENTUM
It’s Virtual...because it’s as if you have a private
connection directly to any website or another computer
you connect to.
It’s Private...because all your online activity is between
you and the locations you visit.
It’s a Network...because you’re using a special network
of VPN servers that cover the entire globe.
Whew, that was technical… observe some real world
scenarios:
Jane, a mobile CPA, has a successful business, but
is forced to schedule meetings at her location for
individuals that have their bookkeeping software locally
installed, or drive all over the city as a convenience to
the small business accounts she is responsible for. She
decided to have a VPN server installed on her system.
Now, every customer of hers has a client installed on their
computer and from her office, she calls her customers
have them turn on their VPN client and she has direct
access to the files and all travel has been eliminated. Her
customer base is now able to expand due to the minim
travel required in her new and improved business.
A local doctor’s office has been highly successful in
the community, servicing over 75% of the city’s
general population. Due to governing laws and
the general-purpose use of Google Drive, the
staff chooses to store data on portable flash drives
and keep them with them in case they need a
patient’s information after-hours. The only other
option is to drive to the facility and “take care of it
really quick,” which never happens. A VPN solution
was installed on their network and clients were
installed on their company computers and mobile
devices. Once access is granted, the filesystem is
literally in the palm of your hands, combined with
the peace of mind that the information held is only
descrambled for the receiver.
Whether you’re at your job or a local coffee
shop - if you’re on-line I can only assume
browsing is happening on the guest Wi-Fi. The
ONLY solution out there next to turning off your
device is a VPN. Today, our entire life sites on
some web server and we access it daily, make
sure the keypad is covered up before you put in
your pin.