Nowadays there are different ways to access the internet, via computers, laptops, tablets and cellphones. We use internet to read articles, visit social network but also to process sensitive information.
Most people are aware that they should use only secured sites (with https) when they perform financial transactions like buying online or exposing credit card information.
When it comes to data exchange we should be aware of the risk that comes when using the public internet.
Public internet is any WiFi hotspot used, either home or in Starbucks or airport.
Transferring sensitive information between companies or individuals is very risky nowadays with millions of hacks that occur every day.
Should we use email to send sensitive information?
Sometimes we use our email system to send sensitive information like Social Security numbers, Credit Card information but is it safe?
In most of the times email system is safe but the internet you are using might be hacked and not safe.
Hackers use packet capture and analyzer tools in your network to capture the traffic that goes out from your computer and they correlate the information to steal sensitive information like credit card numbers, or attachments with clients sensitive information like addresses, bank accounts, SSN etc.
Using VPN to protect sensitive information.
To avoid the risk of theft of the sensitive information developers have created a method to create a tunnel of communication within the unsecured internet between individuals or companies called Virtual Private Network or VPN.
VPN is a secured and private method used to securely transmit information between two parties.
We use VPN to prevent hackers to spy our network when we transmit data over the network.
If we should use VPN depends on the purpose we are using the unsecured internet.
If you use the internet for personal transaction like buying online the sites you insert your sensitive information in most of the times are secured and you don’t need the VPN.
If you use the internet for business purposes and you transmit sensitive information between your location and clients or your office in another location you definitely need to use VPN.
When you setup a VPN you create a private network between your computer and the company or office where you transmit the sensitive information. This network is isolated and hackers cannot interfere in this private network and all your activity is invisible to them.
Big companies use VPN for remote users to allow them to connect to the company network as they are locally in the office and secured. With this type of network remote users don’t use their public network at all, even browsing to the internet passes securely through the VPN to the company network where policies are applied.
Any transaction where sensitive information is involved should pass through a VPN connection or a private dedicated network.
Private dedicated network are very expensive and are used by large companies to connect branches together to a large secured private network.
VPN is the secured affordable solution that individuals and companies use to securely transfer data and keep the information secured from hackers. Check out mejorvpn for additional information on VPNs.