A VPN for business: needed less often than you think.
For what lives in the cloud you do not need one. For the server in the cupboard you do.
Short answer
A business VPN is an encrypted connection over the internet to your company's network. You use it to reach systems that sit at the office from outside, or to link two branches. Jevana sets up both on the firewall, with a separate login for each employee. For Microsoft 365 and other cloud services a VPN is not needed.
Two kinds, two purposes
| Subject | VPN for employees | VPN between sites |
|---|---|---|
| What it connects | One laptop to the office | Two networks to each other |
| Who starts it | The employee, or the laptop by itself | Nobody: it is always on |
| Where it is set up | On the laptop and the firewall | On the firewalls at both locations |
| Typical use | Working at home on the accounts on the server | The warehouse that needs the head office's system |
A business VPN is not the VPN from the adverts
The VPN services in adverts hide your address from websites and let you watch films from other countries. That has nothing to do with your business network. A business VPN connects you to one place: your own office.
And more and more often that connection is unnecessary. Email, files and the accounting package are already in the cloud at most companies and are protected there with two-step verification. A VPN is only still needed for what stayed at the office: an old server, a machine controller, a camera system.
How we set it up
Access
- A separate login for each employee, no shared key
- Two-step verification when connecting
- Only from a managed laptop, where possible
Reach
- Access to the systems someone needs, not the whole network
- Internet traffic does not run through it, unless you want that
- A departed employee cannot get in from the same day
Technology
- WireGuard or OpenVPN, both open source
- Set up on the firewall, not a separate box
- A log of who was connected when
Questions
Do I need a VPN if we use Microsoft 365?
No. Microsoft 365 can be reached from anywhere and is protected with two-step verification and access rules, not with a VPN. A VPN in between makes it slower without making it safer. You only need one for systems that sit at the office and cannot be reached over the internet, such as a file server or a program that runs locally.
How do you connect two branches?
With a site-to-site VPN: a fixed, encrypted tunnel between the firewalls at both locations. For staff it looks like one network. A printer or system at head office can be reached from the second branch as if it stood in the same building. The tunnel runs over each location's ordinary internet line. A separate leased line is not needed.
Is a VPN secure enough for working from home?
A VPN secures the connection, not the laptop. If the device is infected, the infection comes through the tunnel into the office network. That is why we give access per system instead of to the whole network, require two-step verification and, where possible, admit only managed laptops. We advise against a VPN on a private computer without management.
Can the server at the office go, so the VPN is no longer needed?
Often, yes. Shared folders move to SharePoint or JevanaFiles, and many programs now have an online version. What remains is software that is really tied to a local server. Sometimes that can go to a virtual server with us, reached over a secure connection. We look at each system to see what makes most sense.
Goes well with
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Firewall
A firewall installed, configured and kept up, with rules that someone knows the reason for.
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Microsoft 365 security
Two-step verification, conditional access and Defender: what is in your licence, switched on and checked.
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Moving hosting
Moving your website, server or application from another host, without visitors noticing.
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Workplace management
Laptops and phones that set themselves up, stay up to date and can be wiped from a distance.
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Apache Guacamole
Reach a Windows or Linux machine from a web page, without a port open to the internet.
Tell us what you run.
An introduction costs nothing. You talk straight away to one of the two people who will actually do the work.
or email info@jevana.systems