Did you know that over 60% of Americans believe the information they share online is safe when they do so? However, there are other statistics and common knowledge that proves businesses of all sizes aren’t embracing the most secure internet practices in existence. This means that a vast majority of information shared via internet connections that are not so secure have a chance of interception.
In order to help protect the identity/data of those that you serve as well as yourself, this guide helps you determine whether or not your company’s internet is truly secured. And if not, what can be done to bring a higher level of security to your internet connection.
The first thing you have to do is find out what your IP is.
Simply put your IP address is like your postal address. It helps servers and others see where you are accessing the internet from. It’s a specific set of numbers in a format that’s exclusive to your computer specifically. By determining your IP address, you can find out just about anything you need to know.
You can use a website like What Is My IP Address for determining your IP address. Other ways to reveal it are always available, dependent on what operating system you use. For example, this is the process of finding an IP on Windows computers and this one if for finding an IP on Apple Computers.
With your IP address in hand, trace it back to the internet provider.
Now that you did the work of revealing that special number, it’s time to trace it back to your internet provider. You can use a website like this one to do exactly that. What this does is tell you where your internet server is located and the provider that’s hosting it. By uncovering this, you can dig deeper into the security precautions taking by the ISP provider your company uses.
You can also do a speed test online to determine whether or not the ISP of choice is one of the trusted companies when it comes to providing internet speeds that are in line with current standards. You might find that there a better and more affordable options your company might want to consider instead.
Now does the IP show that you use a VPN or a direct connection?
If the IP actually traces back specifically to your ISP, chances are that you aren’t using a VPN which means you are accessing the internet via a less-secure connection. Adding a VPN into your workday could heighten security and at times even provide you with faster speeds than you currently get, according to CFISA online security awareness programs.
When it comes to doing business, it should be a normal requirement for companies to have their employees use a VPN in conjunction with the ISP that they use. It’s a simple application that acts as a tunnel to the internet to help protect the origination of connections to web servers hosting the websites and email accounts that you access on a regular basis.
