VPN Setup for Small Businesses

A VPN lets remote users access office resources as if they were on the local network. For small businesses with remote or hybrid staff, it's often the first secure remote access solution.

VPN types:

- Client VPN — individual users connect from home or travel using VPN software

- Site-to-site VPN — connects two office locations over the internet as one network

Considerations:

- Don't expose VPN endpoints directly to the internet without MFA

- Use strong authentication — certificates, MFA, or both

- Split tunneling vs. full tunneling — decide whether all traffic goes through the VPN or only office-bound traffic

- Bandwidth — VPN throughput depends on your office upload speed

Zero-trust network access (ZTNA) is a modern alternative that doesn't put users on the network at all — they access specific applications only. For growing businesses, ZTNA may be worth considering alongside or instead of a traditional VPN.