Using VPNs to keep customer data safe

Customer data is vital to any business. They need it to ensure they can get their items to you, as well as all the latest offers and things you might like. But as you may well have seen with some big companies, a potential leak in data can happen, as can significant breaches, with your information becoming available.

You might have received one of those emails asking you to change your password due to the breach. Of course, the majority of retail stores and e-commerce sites have stringent security measures in place, but with so much of the world online at the moment, it’s essential to keep customer data as safe as you can.

We’re all living online

Back in the 80s and 90s, Hollywood envisioned what life would be like for us in the 2000s. We’d have flying cars or robots trying to take over the world. While that hasn’t quite happened, machines and the internet do play a pivotal role in the way we live. We’re online when we’re video chatting with friends, instant messaging, working, at school or relaxing in front of the screen and streaming TV shows. We’re also using it when we shop for practically everything. Groceries, garden furniture, clothes – there are so many e-commerce sites, and online sales are soaring, we don’t have to set foot outside our door to go shopping, which has been particularly useful during a global pandemic. But with all that personal information stored on a company’s server, there’s always the worry about how safe it is, especially with the ‘death of the high street’ gathering momentum. Debenhams is shutting its doors, another blow to shoppers who love the physical experience. But we can expect a lot more online stores to take its place.

Rely upon yourself

Of course, Amazon, Next, M&S, all the big stores are available to shop online at. And they have their own safety and security measures in place. But if you keep up to date with cybersecurity news, you’ll know that the online world isn’t always the safest. So please don’t rely on a retailer to keep your customer data safe, especially when you can easily do it yourself. A virtual private network (VPN) allows you to hide your IP address so those dangerous prying eyes online will not be able to trace where you are. Which also means they won’t be able to get any access to your private information. Used personally, you can go onto an e-commerce site, shop and keep your details secure. You might even find that when you use a VPN, prices will be lower, which is always a bonus!

Now imagine what it’d be like if all the staff at those retailers used VPNs too. Which they can, because all the best can be bought in bulk. It means everyone there will have the same security, keeping the details of their whole customer base safe and secure.

It’s easy to do

It’s all well and good for us to tell Jeff Bezos that a VPN is easy to use…but it’s true. Once you’ve found a reliable, reputable VPN, you can easily purchase it and get it installed onto various devices (and all under one licence). Then when you load it up, it’ll have a simple navigation menu for you to use. All you have to do is select a different server location, from one of the multiple locations in the world, and then turn it on. You’ll then be able to go online, with your point of origin coming from a different country, with a different IP address, backed by all the security measures the VPN has. So simple, isn’t it, Jeff?

Fight, for your right… for privacy

Okay, it might not roll off the tongue as much as the Beastie Boys’ hit, but the sentiment rings true. As much as we all love the advancement of technology, we still want to have some privacy in our lives too. Lots of people complain about the country being a ‘Big Brother’ state and its true. Internet service providers (ISPs) monitor your internet usage and can control your bandwidth. Law enforcement agencies are also employed to monitor what’s going on online.

Thankfully, you can enjoy complete online anonymity when you use a VPN, as it completely masks your IP address. That means your ISP won’t know what sites you’re visiting, nor can it restrict your broadband speeds, so whatever you’re looking at, do it at top speed broadband. It’s nice to have that sense of privacy when you’re online, especially when shopping, knowing that all your customer data is safe. The other good thing is that you don’t have to fight for your right for online privacy. You can just get a VPN.