StarLabs Glossary / Cybersecurity & Network Terms
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
A secure tunnel over the internet into your office systems.
A VPN (virtual private network) creates an encrypted connection between a device or site and a private network over the public internet. For a business, it lets staff working from home or overseas reach office files, servers and internal apps securely, as if they were sitting at their desk.
How it works
When a staff member connects to the business VPN, their laptop builds an encrypted tunnel to a VPN gateway, usually the office firewall or a cloud service. Everything sent through the tunnel is scrambled, so nobody on the café Wi-Fi or along the internet route can read it. Once inside, the laptop gets access to the internal resources it is allowed to use.
It helps to separate the two kinds of VPN people talk about:
- Business (remote-access) VPN. Connects your staff into your company network. This is what this page is about.
- Consumer VPN apps. Route your personal browsing through a provider’s servers to hide your location. They do not give access to your office and are a different product.
| Type | What it connects | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Remote-access VPN | One user’s device to the office | Working from home, travelling staff |
| Site-to-site VPN | Two offices or an office and a cloud network | Branch offices sharing one server |
| Zero-trust network access (ZTNA) | A user to specific apps only, checked each time | Modern replacement for broad VPN access |
A VPN is only as secure as its login and its patches. VPN gateways face the internet, so attackers scan for them constantly. Unpatched VPN devices and VPN accounts protected only by a password are common ways into a company network.
What it means for your business
If staff need to reach an office server, NAS or on-premises accounting system from outside, use a business VPN rather than opening remote desktop or file-sharing ports to the internet. Protect every VPN account with MFA, keep the gateway firmware up to date, and remove access promptly when people leave. If most of your work already lives in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, you may not need a VPN for daily work at all. StarLabs can set up and maintain secure remote access that fits how your team works.
Common questions
Does a small business need a VPN?
Only if staff need to reach systems that sit in the office from elsewhere. If everything is in cloud apps with MFA, a VPN may add little.
Is a VPN enough to keep remote work secure?
No. It protects the connection, not the device. Laptops still need updates, endpoint protection and disk encryption, and accounts still need MFA.
What is the difference between a VPN and zero trust?
A traditional VPN often lets a user onto the whole network once connected. Zero-trust access checks the user and device each time and grants access only to the specific apps they need.
Need secure access to the office from home?
StarLabs can set up a VPN with MFA and keep it patched.
Reviewed by the StarLabs technical team · Last checked 18 October 2026
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