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Businesses all over the world are looking to fortify their cybersecurity measures. The remote working business model most companies adopted in 2020 exposed them to various risks. Thankfully, different solutions help online businesses protect their data, employees, etc.
Proxies are some of the most commonly used tools for online business protection. They help internet users connect to websites and other networks indirectly and also enhance security in different ways. This article looks into some of the ways proxies are helpful for business protection.
Here are some important ways in which a Proxy can boost Online Business Security.
1. Protect Company Data
Data security is one of the biggest concerns of businesses that have an online presence. Companies in every industry handle different kinds of data and operate at considerable risk. This is because hacking and data breaching reports have been on the rise since 2020 when many businesses moved online due to the pandemic.
Breaches have a massive impact on business finances and public relations. For instance, a 2019 research showed that a data breach could cost a company between $1.25 million to $8.19 million then. Many small and mid-sized companies cannot afford this, making it vital to take preventive measures.
Proxy servers help businesses avoid or reduce the chances of data breaches. Data shared from outside traffic to your servers need monitoring and protection. Proxies create a security layer and channel through which this data goes through to avoid any unauthorized access.
Hackers looking to access and steal your data may reach the proxy but won’t go past it. The best thing about this is that it protects your company’s reputation. This is because you risk losing customers and business if your network gets hacked into and existing client data stolen by cybercriminals.
2. Monitoring and Control of Data Flow
Proxies help businesses monitor website traffic and prevent any threats. They scan traffic for malware that can cause massive damage to data if they get to your server. This makes it difficult for cybercriminals to send malware to your network while disguising it as safe traffic.
Depending on the proxy you are using, you can also implement web access control for your site quickly. Content filtering proxies, for instance, support user authentication, making it difficult for people with malicious intent to access your network.
As an online business owner, you need to be sure that every bit of traffic comes from legit sources. But then manual traffic filtering isn’t easy or feasible. The best way to do it is by deploying a proxy to filter your traffic automatically, reducing any chances of errors that could expose your business.
3. Enhance Web Scraping
Web scraping is a widespread practice that businesses use to collect essential data. As a business owner, this practice can help you stand out from your competitors and stay ahead. But then, there are different threats that you may face while trying to scrap competitor websites.
For instance, your competitors could be using bots that flag your web scraper. This makes it difficult to access their websites and collect insightful data that helps SEO, marketing, lead generation, etc. Thankfully, you can use a proxy server to get past these bots and smoothen the whole process.
Proxies act as intermediaries between the device you are using and the target website. As mentioned earlier, it uses a unique IP address and hides your device’s address. This makes it possible for your web scraper to send multiple requests to a web server without getting flagged for web scraping.
A residential proxies is the most commonly used for web scraping. The best thing about residential proxies is that they are highly reliable and effective for web scraping. They can get you past any form of block and make it easy for you to access any website without getting blocked.
It would be best to decide what fits your business best between private and public residential proxies. There are advantages and disadvantages that your business can enjoy from choosing either. It’s important to note though that private residential proxy is a better pick for business.
4. Load Balancing and Speeding Up Performance
Websites have a maximum amount of traffic they can handle comfortably. Excess traffic can potentially lead to web crashing, causing downtime, which isn’t good for business. Besides, sometimes the traffic causing your website to crash isn’t natural but an attempt by a cybercriminal to bring your website down.
Such a threat is known as a denial-of-service attack (DoS). Cybercriminals use this attack to keep legit users away from your website by flooding it with overwhelming requests than it can handle. Proxy servers help with load balancing, which prevents DoS attacks by rerouting excess traffic to different servers.
Proxies also play critical roles in ensuring fast website loading speeds. They cache frequently visited pages and display them quickly once a user conducts an online search. This helps businesses save on bandwidth and deliver lag-free browsing experiences to users.
5. Perform Sensitive Tasks Anonymously
Data protection is not the only important thing online. Businesses need to perform different tasks without exposing themselves to cybercriminals. For instance, browsing the internet isn’t always straightforward. There are various risks, such as mistakenly clicking on insecure websites.
The best way to ensure that you are safe while browsing is by using a proxy server to hide. As mentioned earlier, these tools mask your identity entirely. A proxy server makes your IP unrecognizable, ensuring that cybercriminals do not target you.
This works best for news companies and reporters who need to protect their sources. It also applies to businesses conducting online research and would like to remain anonymous. Proxies make it safe to do any of these without worrying about getting identified by other parties on the internet.
6. Control Employee Internet Access
Businesses want to be sure that they are safe in everything they do. Business owners understand that human error has been primarily linked to data breaches, with several cases reported in the past. This has pushed business owners to use security tools such as proxies to prevent human error.
Proxies help to limit employee internet access according to a company’s needs. Business owners can identify websites that can potentially jeopardize their businesses if clicked on by employees. They then deploy a proxy server to stop any attempted access to such websites to protect their networks.
Besides, this can also apply to email protection which is also vital for business security. Phishing attempts have been on the rise, and thankfully, proxies can help prevent them. You can set up a proxy server to control access to any suspicious links sent to your work emails. An employee could click on a malicious link and expose your entire network.
Final Conclusion
Proxy services enhance online business security in the ways mentioned above. With online threats increasing daily, businesses need to treat proxies as requirements and not options. They are the best tools that can help a company mitigate the risks of online threats.
A proxy is, therefore, an investment for any business that understands online security. It can help protect your brand’s image and reputation, which is otherwise at stake in the event of a security breach. Besides, proxies save businesses a lot of money that you could have spent recovering from a security breach.
