Is zero trust network access (ZTNA) the better alternative to a VPN?
Yes!, We most definitely think so
What are the main differences between VPN and ZTNA?
Viewed by many and the preferred alternative to traditional VPN access, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is a category of technologies that provides secure remote access to applications and services based on defined access policies.
VPNs were designed to grant complete access to a local area network, offering a private, encrypted route for remote access to the corporate network – a very practical solution but with limitations. VPN access lacks the ability to implement defined access or granular access, resulting in the user gaining complete access to the whole network in a single step, opening the door for security breaches, access to confidential resources and creating issues in terms of how remote access could be and should be managed.
ZTNA was developed to counter what was lacking in the VPN design with ZTNA operating a Zero Trust policy, providing secure remote access based on specific access management policies. What’s more, rather than a policy of ‘once you are in, you are in’, ZTNA constantly vets the user, their device and their user behaviour during any ZTNA session, thus maintain the highest level of security and security management for remote access.
Nevermore has there been such a strong case for ZTNA in your business
With the increase in the need for remote access as a hybrid workforce dominates the global stage, nevermore has there been a need to enhanced security around this remote landscape.
As with your already defined software defined perimeters, the ‘who is allow to access what’ within your IT, ZTNA prevents users from seeing any applications and services that they don’t have permission to access. Apart from maintaining your company’s access and rights policy, this approach also prevents against lateral attacker movement.
Given the shift of recent years towards greater flexibility in terms of remote working, many companies are replacing outdated VPN technologies for the delivery of remote network access to with the more secure and modern ZTNA solution.
In our experience, where ZTNA really stands out in its ability to work seamlessly in single and multi-cloud environments without bottlenecks and confidently manages the security issues that come with users swapping between devices – managed and unmanaged – with the increase of BYOD / bring your own device requirements in the workplace.
If you are using VPN, it is time to consider the alternative and if you are not using either VPN and ZTNA, you definitely need to speak with our experts.