VPNs vs. Proxies: Protecting Your Business from Cyber-Attacks

From what I’ve read online, it seems that many people don't have enough knowledge about proxies and VPNs and how they differ. That’s why I’ve decided to write this blog post and clarify the main differences between VPNs and proxies.

Read on to learn more:
● How VPNs differ from proxies
● Which one is more secure
● How they can help your business
● Which one you should choose

What’s the difference between VPNs and Proxies?

From the first look, VPNs and proxies seem to be the same thing. Let’s quickly go over the basics to see where the confusion comes from.

• A VPN (virtual private network) is a service that protects your privacy online. Think of it as a tunnel that you get into with your car. Your car is your IP address and the tunnel is your VPN. As long as you’re driving through that tunnel, your data isn’t seen by the online world.
• Just like a VPN, a proxy acts as a middleman between your data and the internet. All your connections are sent through a remote server, which hides your IP address.

It sounds pretty much the same, right? But here’s the catch. While both VPNs and proxies make you anonymous by hiding your IP address, there are a few key differences.

When you’re using a particular type of proxies (there are
multiple), you appear as a real person. These proxies are called residential, and they’re connected to real-life devices. With a VPN, you’re also anonymous, but a website can recognize that it’s a VPN.

For a personal user, this may not be a huge thing. Still, if you have certain business goals, e.g., running multiple tasks at once, you’re more likely to get blocked if the website you’re targeting is filtering out VPNs.

Another crucial difference between proxies and VPNs lies in the number of available connections they provide. With residential proxies, you can fire
multiple connections with different IPs simultaneously. With VPN, on the
other hand, you don’t get multiple connections as all your online activity goes through a single “tunnel.” In other words, you’re recognized as the same person. This is because proxies work on an app level and VPNs function on an operating system level.       

Overall, both VPNs and proxies are secure. It’s just that they’re suitable for different use cases. Unlike proxies, VPNs encrypt all the data you send and receive from traffic. As for proxies, use HTTPS (SSL) proxies for maximum security.

How can VPN help you protect your business?

A VPN can help you protect your business from cyber-attacks. For example, a VPN connection ensures extra security if you’re transferring files through a cloud-based online platform. The same applies to any online business calls you have daily.

Plus, if you’re ever working outside your office and need to use public WiFi, a VPN is a must as data transmitted through open public networks is easier to breach.

While all of that is extremely important, VPNs won’t let you carry out any bulk tasks that need automation. This is where proxies step in.

And how can proxies help?

Just like VPNs, proxies can help keep your business secure by protecting it from data leaks. But even more importantly, proxies can boost your sales. How?

As I’ve mentioned before, residential proxies provide you with multiple different IPs to perform various marketing, research, and e-commerce activities. For example, you can cop sneakers and carry out other web scraping tasks.

Proxies allow you to scrape brand-related queries, such as sentiment and mention analysis, plagiarism, and search for copyright infringements. The possibilities are endless! 

Which one should you choose?

The bottom line is that VPNs are great for ensuring security for your business, but they won’t let you run multiple tasks at once that involve automation. Proxies not only have your security covered, but they also enable you to drive your business forward.

Your choice should depend on what you want to achieve. VPNs are a better choice if you simply need to watch more shows on Netflix. In contrast, proxies are much better for business-oriented use, such as running multiple tasks at once.

Also published here.