The Best VPNs for Businesses and Teams for 2021

Since lengthy earlier than most workplace employees started full-timing it from residence, VPNs have been the instrument of selection for distant employees who must entry company networks. VPNs let employers give protection to their workforce, and in some circumstances, let distant staff entry company sources as in the event that they had been sitting of their places of work.

PCMag has finished extensive testing of non-public VPN companies for years. That being the case, we determined that our first foray into the area of business-class VPNs could be to look at the enterprise and group choices of a few of our favourite private VPNs. Note that there are different merchandise and companies tailor-made solely for enterprise prospects and IT departments. We have not examined these companies for this piece.

What Do VPNs Do?

All these VPNs present all the reassurance of privateness you get with any VPN. When anybody in your group connects to one in all these companies, their site visitors is routed by an encrypted tunnel between their machine and a server operated by the VPN firm (or by your organization, however extra on that later). Nobody, not even these on the identical Wi-Fi community, can monitor or intercept their site visitors. Even ISPs are blinded, and unable to sell anonymized data about their movements. Out on the net, your group members have their true IP addresses hidden behind the IP deal with of the VPN server. They may also spoof their areas by connecting to a distant server.

This does not immediately assist your staff do their jobs, however it does shield their privateness and their knowledge. Some VPN firms argue that it helps shield delicate recordsdata and company knowledge, however I’d argue that these should not be despatched over any system that does not already encrypt and shield them. Or, higher but, do not let these recordsdata out of your safe community. 

If your workforce travels usually, or works remotely, they could continuously be in conditions the place the obtainable Wi-Fi is way from reliable. Similarly, distant employees might must spoof their areas to entry localized variations of web sites. Also, offering the instruments and coaching to enhance their privateness and preserve themselves secure, might spill over to holding your company info secure.

Keep in thoughts that your staff and your firms will nonetheless want primary safety safety. Using password managers and two-factor authentication will assist shield in opposition to account takeovers that may expose company knowledge and be used for phishing assaults. Antivirus protects machines in opposition to malware that would value worthwhile time and cash repairing.

Several of PCMag’s top-rated VPN firms mentioned that whereas they don’t supply company or group choices, they’re conscious that some firms do procure their merchandise to safe worker privateness on-line. These embody CyberGhost, Surfshark, and Editors’ Choice winner ProtonVPN.

It’s Like You’re Back within the Office

Some of those VPNs go additional, letting you entry your native community and community sources as in case your staff had been bodily on the community. Before the bewildering creation of client VPNs, that is what VPNs had been primarily used for: connecting securely to work stuff. While terminology typically differs, the businesses we spoke with often name this a “site-to-site VPN.”

With this setup, all VPN site visitors is routed by a server managed by your organization, often on firm premises. This lets staff entry sources like shared drives and work as in the event that they had been related to their workplace web. Jack Murray, Senior Researcher at NordVPN Teams, advised me that this mannequin has some points. The on-premises server requires maintenance and can develop into a bottleneck since all of the VPN site visitors has to move by the company community. “The connection between the skin networks and the corporate community will get jammed on the edge — simply as we noticed with quite a few firms in the course of the COVID-19 lockdown,” mentioned Murray.

Like so many enterprise operations, some VPN firms have moved to the cloud. In this situation, site visitors is routed from staff, not by a server in your workplace however a devoted server operated by NordVPN. “Allocating totally different connection capacities, the site visitors is cut up into the move that goes to the native community and the remainder of the web, as a substitute of sending all site visitors by native community as conventional company VPNs do,” defined Murray.

Golden Frog VyprVPN has an identical providing known as VyprVPN Cloud. “Although the on-premises server has comparable traits, it’s barely totally different from a site-to-site VPN,” a VyprVPN consultant advised me. By connecting to a devoted, cloud-based server, Golden Frog’s prospects can securely entry extra firm sources, not simply these connected to an on-premises server. The consultant defined that company prospects can add the static IP deal with of the devoted server to an entry checklist, letting distant staff connect with cloud-based sources.

The variations between totally different setups might be very complicated. If you are exploring buying a VPN for your organization, it is vital to grasp what you need a VPN to supply your group. Once you perceive that, you may work with potential distributors and make sure that you are getting precisely what you pay for.

Among the VPNs listed right here, Encrypt.me, Golden Frog VyprVPN, and NordVPN Teams enable for accessing company sources remotely. In some circumstances, this will embody on-site, devoted server deployment. You ought to contact these firms for extra info if this sounds proper for you.

(Note: Encrypt.me is owned by J2 Global, which additionally owns PCMag’s writer Ziff Media.)

Keep in thoughts that routing worker site visitors by company networks could make issues a bit of sophisticated. Unless there’s been some very particular configuration, anybody related to the VPN can have all their site visitors routed by the company community. This may embody some issues that suck up firm bandwidth, resembling streaming movies, or could also be in opposition to the insurance policies of the corporate, like BitTorrent seeding. 

It may also result in embarrassing conditions. An worker might simply overlook they’re related to the company VPN earlier than streaming porn, or any content material that is inappropriate for the office. When utilizing company VPNs that join to non-public networks, be certain you understand how they work, the right way to inform once they’re lively, and the right way to shut them off.

Privacy Is Still Important

When you join your private system to a VPN, all of your site visitors flows by its infrastructure. If the VPN firm selected to abuse that place, it might be taught as a lot about you as your ISP. That’s totally different with a number of the group and company choices because it is likely to be your organization that is in charge of the server. But signing on with any third get together means being conscious of the dangers to your small business and your staff. 

Unfortunately, the patron VPN trade remains to be younger and unstable. It can typically be hard to tell who the good actors are. When we overview VPNs for PCMag, we ship the businesses a questionnaire that asks about what nation’s authorized framework the VPN firm operates underneath, what efforts are made to safe server infrastructure, whether or not the corporate sells consumer knowledge, and so on. We attempt to embody as a lot info as potential in our critiques so readers could make an knowledgeable resolution. For one reader, a US-based VPN is likely to be a complete nonstarter. For one other reader, being based mostly within the US is likely to be a important want. Read our full critiques for extra on how every service protects customers’ privateness.

Again, it is in all probability a unique story for those who’re internet hosting the VPN server your self. But contemplate that your staff could also be utilizing the service’s industrial servers for day-to-day searching, and could also be utilizing the VPN firm’s app. If you are a VPN firm, take a while to ask about their privateness insurance policies, what protections are in place for your info, and what efforts they make to guard prospects.

VPNs for Your WFH Team

A VPN goes a great distance towards defending particular person privateness. It may also shield your company knowledge, whether or not it is by connecting your workforce to a safe community or guaranteeing that your staff are secure of their day-to-day lives. While you may arrange your individual VPN, opting for a group or enterprise account from a client VPN means you will get extra servers, extra help, and apps made for on a regular basis use.

(Editors’ Note: While they could not all seem on this story, Encrypt.me, IPVanish, and StrongVPN are owned by J2 Global, the father or mother firm of PCMag’s writer, Ziff Davis.)

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