As organizations increasingly implement remote work policies, more often than not, they turn to traditional virtual private network (VPN) services to enable remote connectivity. While it’s true that VPNs are used to support fluid working practices, it’s also true that they come with heightened security risks, as well as bandwidth bottleneck issues and latency-related hitches. There are various VPN alternatives available out in the market, with more accessibility and highly secure.
Remote work requires end users to have remote access to corporate resources, causing many organizations to consider VPNs. The question is, can organizations trust users accessing the corporate network through a VPN?
In a typical organization, this access is granted at the network level, which implies that every user who holds VPN rights can gain full access to each corporate resource. There are no restrictions based on the roles and requirements of the user, which increases the risk of unauthorized remote access to sensitive information.
Moreover, the endpoint that connects through a VPN could be a desktop, laptop, or smartphone. If the remote endpoint has security loopholes or is compromised, it could be used as a conduit to exploit the entire network and gain access to unauthorized systems.
When multiple systems connect to the corporate network through a VPN, which is the case now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate resources will be rendered slowly and end users could encounter higher latency due to bandwidth bottlenecks. On top of all this, VPNs can be very expensive.
VPN is a source that helps you disguise your online identity and establish a secure connection over the internet. In most organizations certain sites can be accessed only through organization network. In that case it is recommended to use VPN when you wish to access the site from outside the organization.
Report by Cybersecurity Insiders state that VPN is the primary target for cybercriminals. A compromised VPN connection will become a gateway for hackers to access all your personal details and sensitive credentials. Hence it is mostly no recommended to go for VPN.
Based on point of connection, VPN is of three different types: Site-to-site, remote access and VPN as a service.
VPN has limited level of access on the other hand RDP will give you a full control over a remote desktop. It is recommended to go for RDP in case remote access and troubleshooting. VPN will be best suitable to access secure network.
No, you can remotely access endpoints without the help of virtual private network.
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