In today’s world, security is the main concern of businesses as cyber attacks have become more common. Generally, cybercriminals are after the confidential data that companies hold. They want to possess sensitive data mainly because of their financial interests. Nowadays, every business is up against the increased risks of cyber-attacks regardless of their size. To combat potential cyber attacks, and cope with modern-day challenges, VPNs can be good solutions.
But, in the VPN market, there are numerous vendors and different types of VPNs. If you don’t know which type of VPN would be a better fit for your organization, and your needs, we got you covered. Remote Access VPN and Site to Site VPN are the most common VPN types that are used by businesses. Before explaining remote access VPN vs. site to site VPN and each of their functionalities further, let’s take a closer look at what is VPN and how it works.
What Is Virtual Private Network? How does It work?
Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology creates private tunnels between users and the internet. It hides users’ activities and real IP addresses from third-party entities. Simply put, when you use a VPN, your activities and real location can’t be monitored or tracked by anyone. The main goal of VPNs is to enable user privacy and anonymity on the internet.
VPN technology functions the same when it is used for organizational purposes. It creates a private tunnel over the internet between employees and corporate networks. It encrypts all of the data transfers that employees send or receive and makes these transfers unreadable to third-party entities, and malicious actors.
While using VPNs, all user-generated traffic is hidden from the open internet, and users’ activities are invisible. In short, VPNs help businesses to secure their data transfers and enable their activities’ anonymity and privacy.
What Is Site to Site VPN?
Site to Site VPN creates a private tunnel between two networks and interconnects them as one. For example, when you have several branch offices in different locations, and each hosts different resources, they need to communicate with each other securely. Site to Site VPN interconnects these branch offices’ LANs with each other so that they can reach the resources all branch offices hold.
Site to Site VPN encrypts all the data transfers that go back and forward between offices and makes it unreadable to third-party entities. Additionally, there are two types of site-to-site connections, these are intranet and extranet-based connections.
The intranet-based site-to-site connection interconnects branch offices LANs into a wide area network (WAN). When each branch office holds different resources, it allows each of them to reach the resources that are held in other branch offices.
Extranet-based site-to-site connections allow businesses to share only limited resources while the remaining resources are kept private. Extranet-based connections are useful when a business’ contractors or clients need to access some of the resources while others are concealed from access.
What Is Remote Access VPN?
Remote Access VPN creates private tunnels for each user to connect the host networks and corporate resources. Each hosted resource has to have VPN software in a remote setting. Additionally, each user connects to the corporate networks via client VPN software.
Remote Access VPN allows employees to access the corporate networks regardless of their locations. It enables secure remote access and encrypts all the data transfers that are sent by each user. Then, it decrypts the data when it reaches its destination.
To securely connect users to the resources and networks, Remote Access VPN needs either a VPN gateway or Network Access Server (NAS). Businesses can purchase dedicated VPN servers all around the world and create multiple gateways for remote secure access.
Remote Access VPN vs. Site to Site VPN
The main difference between Remote Access VPN and Site to Site VPN is that Remote Access VPN doesn’t require any on-premise setup, while Site to Site VPN requires on-premise setups in all branch locations. Additionally, when a business uses Site to Site VPN, employees have to be in the offices to access the resources and data that are held in other branch offices. But, while using Remote Access VPN, employees can access the resources and corporate networks from any location.
As of 2022, many employees work remotely, and implementing a Remote Access VPN would be a better choice. Additionally, Remote Access VPN is less expensive than Site to Site VPN as it doesn’t require any on-premise setups. Although they both provide secure access and data transfers, Remote Access VPN is better as it is more sustainable for modern businesses.
Last Words
Today, all businesses are up against the increased risk of cyberattacks. To combat potential cyber-attacks, investing in VPNs can be a good solution. Whether you choose Remote Access VPN or Site to Site VPN, they both enable secure access and safe data transfers.
