The Advantages of Using a VPN in Business

As more and more of a company's day-to-day business is conducted over the internet, more and more companies are looking for ways of protecting their data and interactions on the web. A VPN is a Virtual Private Network that can be used to do this. VPNs are, in simple terms, a way of transmitting data securely over a network. The internet is a public resource and as such you do not know much about its security - this can be problematic if you are working with private or confidential data. Virtual Private Networks are used by all kinds of people the world over. Individuals can utilise them when using Wi-Fi hotspots to ensure their security while schools and universities can use them so that students can connect to the institution's intranet. This article, however, aims to outline the ways that using a VPN can be advantageous to a business.

The most obvious benefit for businesses is the enhanced security that comes with using a VPN. When connected to a network through a VPN your data is encrypted so if any unauthorised persons attempt to take control of your data they will be unable to understand it or do anything with it. This aspect can be particularly important for those companies that deal with personal or confidential data. Besides the obvious and important security advantages of virtual private networks, there are a number of further benefits for businesses and companies.

A VPN will also add flexibility to a company or business. Through using a VPN employees can connect to the company's network and access resources, data, and the company's intranet. Without a VPN they would not be able to securely connect to these services. A VPN will allow remote workers and workers away from the office to access the resources they need. This increase in flexibility can in turn lead to an increase in productivity. Employees can work outside office hours if they wish or while they are travelling or on the move.

In a similar vein, if employees use a virtual private network it can lead to saving time and money. Being able to work from home will save the cost of commuting to and from work and time spent commuting could be more practically used. VPNs can also be money saving when compared with the older alternative of a leased line. Previously in order to connect securely to a network a leased line had to be used which could be expensive, especially when the lines had to be long-distance. A virtual private network can easily and cheaply connect networks that are geographically very far apart. In addition, the maintenance costs of VPNs are fairly low once they are set up and implemented.

Finally a VPN can be advantageous in terms of scalability. Businesses change size constantly and as they change and grow, their network and internet needs are likely to change. With a VPN, instead of having to build dedicated networks between the different offices and branches of a company, branches can easily connect to the main internal network. In short, VPNs can extend as companies expand. Also, importantly a virtual private network can, in many cases, have better performance. Once a company starts using a VPN the efficiency and bandwidth of a network can be improved - this can be particularly important as companies expand and gain more employees who will need to use the network.

VPNs are being used more and more frequently - they have even cropped up in the news. In countries where internet censorship is particularly heavy, many people have been using VPNs to get around the blocks and to protest political incidents taking place. However, in the business world there are a number of benefits: VPNs can be cost effective, secure, and scalable. They can also improve employee flexibility and productivity and can make connecting to internal networks far easier.

Website Security Audits - One Stop Security Solution For The Website Owners

The safety of web sites is one of the main ongoing battles for a large number of website owners, particularly when there are multitudes of treacherous viruses and smart tech asses present over the internet. Securing your website is not a piece of cake and a large number of website owners neglect this part. Even if your website does not have a transaction base and is just a normal informative site, it might still be prone to the dangers of web world. Therefore, the owners have to pay special attention towards the website security rather than on the operations of websites. There are various ways to get your maintain the security of a website and one of the main widely accepted mediums include website security audit.

Website Security Audit examines the pages, applications as well as servers of your website in order to spot the probable weaknesses and vulnerabilities of your website security that can invite the hackers to cause some serious damage. The security audit identifies all the key security issues of the website, including the Cross Site Scripting (XSS) and the SQL injection, and helps you in securing the website in the best possible manner. The audit procedure will not hamper the visitors from accessing the website. They can easily surf the web page and carry on the desired activities without any obstruction from the auditing process.

A large number of people recommend third party security audit on annual basis and in a number of instances, this recommendation is more than sufficient. It is just a periodic check to notice any probable changes that may have occurred between this audit and the previous periodic check. This will surely reveal any pot holes in the security of your website that may have widened in the period of interval. Website Security Audit is a simple and fast susceptibility assessor that will reveal the exact weak point of your website in an accurate manner, rate the level of risk of each loophole and will provide the best solution for handling the problem.

Website Security Audit consists of six simple steps. The vulnerability assessment test begins with the Port Scan. All the services available on all the ports of your web server including FTP, SQL and web are investigated and all the open ports are detected within no time. After that, a Vulnerability Scan is done in order to identify the services available at each open port. These services and their configurations are matched with the vulnerability database for finding the potential ones and an active test is performed to determine any existing weakness.

This is followed by thorough scanning of each web page for identifying the vulnerable entry points. Detailed reports of all the risk discovered along with their severity are delivered to the owners. Each of these reports includes certain recommendations about improving the security of the website. You can guide your staff in the direction of proper and safe actions and carry on the repairing process. Finally a security certificate is provided to the website owners, which makes the 100% secure tagline appear more realistic.

So, if you wish to own a fully safe and secure website, then website security audit is an ultimate solution.

The Pros and Cons of Free SSL Certificates

A free SSL certificate means that you don't have to pay for the security it offers. SSL stands for "Secure Socket Layers" and this is the encryption that assures the security in a website. The encrypted information can only be deciphered by your browser and the secured server.

With a SSL certificate, all the information between the two is encrypted and is kept from the public eye. The idea is to make a third party unable to access and decipher the information, like credit card and checking account numbers and personal information like Social Security numbers and home addresses. SSL certificates have to be verified and authenticated, meaning the sender and receiver both have to prove they are who they say they are.

SSL certificates are available for free, but don't offer the same level of security as certificate that's paid for. There are more downsides to having a SSL certificate that is free than a paid certificate with a higher level of security. But at the very least, a free certificate can provide simple verification of the domain name of the sender.

Free certificates aren't trusted when they pop up on a site, but even if they are trustworthy, they can be made to look like a site that can't be trusted. They seem to run slower and the perceived reliability factor is much lower. Utilizing an unpaid SSL Certificate for secured payments is not recommended, but it still might be considered safer than having someone steal credit card information in a store. It's not uncommon for these certificates to come with unwanted bundles of Internet applications that the user might not want.

Paid certificates offer greater security. They will verify the physical reality of a company. Only corporations can be given a higher level of comprehensive background checks and are the most expensive certificates that are sold. These certificates check the name of the domain and the associated telephone number and authority of the individual making the transaction.

Better SSL certificate service providers are quick to resolve issues, provide a seal (to assure customers that the site is secure), give vulnerability assessments to avoid hacking, prevent blacklisting by search engines (when malware is found on a website), offer warranties, and have refund policies.

When a free certificate can't be trusted, the firm that issues it has a revocation list, which invalidates the certificate. When the firm that gives free certificates is no longer trusted, their entire string of certificates is invalidated by a browser and failure to trust occurs. For this reason, free certificates are thought to be trusted because their browsers know who to trust.

What it boils down to is how much protection do you need to run a profitable business? If you have high volume sales, the cost of a high level SSL certificate will pay for itself in cost savings from fraudulent credit card use, electronic theft of customer information, and other forms of online interference that can negatively affect a business. If you don't have vital information worth stealing, a free SSL certificate can still offer minimal protection.

A Private Proxy Server for Internet Privacy

There are those who would say that the private proxy server is among the best proxy servers there is to improve your Internet security. From the phrase itself, it is a private server, to be used only by one person or a handful of Internet users (that could be acting as one entity). This proxy server is considered as the best kind of proxy server because of its advantages that will be enumerated below.

First off, we have the speed of the Internet connection. With only one person or a handful of users using the server, the user or users will be able to set the speed of the connection to its maximum level. When compared to a public proxy, the private proxy will not lose in terms of speed because the public proxy is often used by hundreds of Internet users at the same time.

Other advantages of the proxy server include the common purpose of protecting our personal information and privacy whenever we go online. The proxy server will change our IP address every time we log in and hide our real IP. This allows us to surf anonymously online. Thus we can surf the Internet without worrying about hacker threats and proceed to shop on the online stores and visit your favorite websites. We can also assure ourselves that we can make safe transactions and manage our financial accounts online. We can also keep our Internet service provider or ISP from tracking our web history and recording our tracks. The search engines and other Internet users will also be kept from accessing our personal information.

There is also the issue of connecting to the Internet via a hotspot or Wi-Fi. With a public Internet connection such as this, Internet users near you will be able to see you online surfing activities. With a private proxy server, however, you are sure to be protected from them and establish a secure tunnel for your own browsing activities.

We can also keep the cyber criminals and hackers near you from connecting to your network and try to dig into your personal information. Now we know how dangerous it can be for us when malicious hackers try to get into our system and steal our files. With a private server, though, we can avoid this worrisome threat and eliminate the possibility of becoming a cyber crime victim. For our internet privacy, using private proxy is definitely a big help.

What Do I Need to Know About SSL Certificate Validation?

The purpose of an SSL certificate is to secure the transfer of information sent between a web server and web browser. Checking to see if the requester of a certificate is legitimate is beneficial to the user and a business. When SSL certificates are purchased, there are three ways to perform the validation.

Organizational Validation

Multiple sources of information are checked for a business. This is done to ensure that information found about the names of the business and who owns and runs the business (the whois record) matches with registration of the business. Another check is done to ensure that these details match with local business listings. When all of the required information matches, the business is issued a certificate. A certificate that is issued using an organizational validation method will ensure the certificate is properly verified. This allows an online user to see any information that is needed to verify identity of a business. The user will see an indicator on their browser that a site has been issues an SSL certificate.

Domain Validation

One of the most affordable SSL certificate validation methods is by domain validation. This is a type of validation that is done at the domain level. The process is started by sending an email to an account that is associated with the domain. This is to check if the recipient is the person controlling the domain. The use of email does not guarantee that this person is the legitimate owner of the domain. A phone call can also be made to a person associated with the domain name to perform the validation. Information that is contained in the registrant or whois record is used to contact the domain owner. Issuance of a certificate using this method ensures that a company or business has been properly verified. A user will also find a specific type of indicator in their browser.

Extended Validation

This is a popular method for completing SSL certificate validation. A user will see a green highlight for a website and a business name appearing in the browser's address bar. This is a special emphasis that is given to companies that use this type of validation method for SSL certificates. The required details for a business are first verified using the organization validation method. Contact is then made to a domain owner to ensure all of the information is verified. The phone number used is obtained for a local phone directory and not from a whois record. The issue of an SSL certificate that uses this validation will take up to two weeks.

Additional Information

Another option for validating an SSL certificate is to use a self-signed certificate. When this option has been used, a warning is displayed in a web browser asking the user if they want to proceed.