In the digital world, our technology is an extension of ourselves. Our personalities, friendships and much more are on the internet and in the cloud, especially for small businesses. In many cases, the small business owner blurs the lines between personal and professional, using social media to reach potential clients as well as existing customers. 

Although most of us are comfortable with certain information being public, we usually don't reveal private information — and we'd like to keep it that way. But the House of Representatives recently voted to repeal internet privacy protections put in place by the Federal Communications Commissioner under the Obama Administration. The Trump administration, which has signaled its support in the past, signed the bill, effective April 3. 

No matter your comfort level with technology, a virtual private network (VPN) mitigates the chance of your data being breached. For security concerns, everyone who uses the internet — from private citizens to businesses of any size — should add a VPN to keep private information private. In the age of "bring your own devices" when confidential business data may be accessed from a personal computer or a company-owned device, it's important to keep cyber security top of mind.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Denny Jacob

Denny Jacob is an associate editor for NU PropertyCasualty360. Contact him at [email protected].