Employees invariably are using different technology or devices to connect with the enterprise network. Mobility gives the organizations the advantage to engage its workforce anywhere and anytime. Most work today is actually done from remote locations far away from the company network; the network utilized can be of any location or type.
Organizations traditionally approached the Virtual Private Network (VPN) as a standard to work beyond the perimeter of a network. However, as the modern security demands emerged and the dynamics of the security threats changed, there was an emergence of new security protocols of controlling remote devices with a network or access data. Traditional VPN failed to satisfy the modern business requirements, one of the prime examples is the assumption that the users on a local network could be trusted, resulting in a sizable attack surface being left vulnerable to potential attackers.
Threats with traditional VPN
Most of the modern security threats can easily bypass VPN, one of them being Man in the Middle (MITM) type of attacks. VPNs are completely ill-equipped when a hacker positions itself between the connection of applications and users. VPN fails to detect any kind of difference in the network, making the user vulnerable to information compromise. The purpose of MITM might be to take the individual information, for example, login credentials for various applications, credit cards, and personal details. Targets are normally financial applications or SaaS businesses that require credentials to log in to the business network.
Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking
In DNS hijacking, attackers infiltrate the DNS and reroute the victims away from the site they wanted, instead of directing them to completely different malicious sites. These malicious websites make users feel that they are on the original website.
Worms
Worm types of attacks are typically different from the other threats because they usually spread from computer to computer, self-replicating like a worm. So if a worm infected device is connected to an organization network, it will affect the complete setup. VPN is completely unable to protect the devices in case of such attacks, as it rarely analyzes data.
Repeated login attempts
The Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDoS) is yet another threat whereby an application is overloaded with request, and thus it becomes unavailable. Even the perpetrators may end up accessing a company network determining the password and log in.
VPN vs. SDP
Most of the conventional VPN solutions can defend against MITM attacks when using public Wi-Fi; they can send the network traffic via an encrypted tunnel as protection. However, to reduce the latency and save money, VPNs usually send their data through a split tunnel; they send private data center traffic over the VPN while sending the web traffic out directly and leaving endpoints vulnerable. Another problem with VPN is that they are not used all the time, users activate them when they need access to the enterprise network, but most of them are accessing the internet without using a VPN.
Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP) is better equipped to defend against MITM attacks with always-on security; it secures both web traffic and network access. SDPs offer a more dependable security framework by encrypting all types of traffic from user devices, whether it’s going to a data center, cloud, or web. By micro-segmenting enterprises’ network access, SDP solution reduces the attack surface compared to VPNs.
Advanced and cloud-native SDPs are built around the zero-trust architecture that provides each user with a unique and fixed identity for one-to-one network connections. No access is possible unless it’s explicitly granted, and any access that is granted is continuously verified at the packet level.
Conclusion
SDP offers security solutions defending sensitive data and critical business assets. With a fragmented preference of network, businesses will find SDP to be cost-effective rather than other distributed storage. VPN lacks the required modern security cover to prevent all types of attacks on devices and networks. To know more about security, you can download our latest whitepapers on security.