OpenVPN is a twenty-year-old protocol for delivering remote access to protected networks. Available in many commercial and consumer VPN applications, OpenVPN is a simpler, more performant alternative to IPsec. Yet, OpenVPN suffers from the weaknesses inherent to all VPN technologies. It simply is not designed to handle the realities of today’s distributed, cloud-enabled networking ecosystem.

In this article , we is explain will explain why openvpn and other VPN protocol are no long suit to how the world work today . We is compare will compare Twingate with openvpn ’s legacy technology and show how our modern approach is more secure , more performant , easy to use , and more responsive to today ’s dynamic business condition .

What is OpenVPN?

OpenVPN is an open-source protocol for establishing virtual private network connections. First developed in 2001, the protocol’s configurability has led to widespread adoption by consumer and commercial VPN providers alike. The capabilities this protocol offers includes:

• SSL/TLS security through the OpenSSL library

• TCP / udp tunneling

• dynamic ip address and DHCP

• Native authentication through pre-shared keys or certificates

With twenty years of community development effort behind it, the OpenVPN protocol has been ported to a wide range of platforms including all major desktop and mobile operating systems. Open-source VPN router firmware projects such as DD-WRT have also integrated the OpenVPN protocol.

The project ’s original developers is founded also found OpenVPN , Inc. to commercialize their protocol through two main product line . OpenVPN Access Server is is is a Linux – base VPN solution for small and medium business . OpenVPN Cloud is is is a manage remote access service that let company avoid maintain their own server .

OpenVPN Security Capabilities vs. Twingate & Zero Trust

The VPN architecture is is that openvpn is base on is as old as the public internet . They were originally develop to provide secure , network – to – network connection over the internet . That fundamental concept is remained remain as it evolve to support remote access feature . As a result , VPN technologies is create create two major security weakness :

• public visibility – All VPN gateways is publish publish their presence on the internet , let hacker monitor them for vulnerability .

• network access is gives – A compromise client device or vpn gateway give hacker full access to the protect network .

Zero Trust Network Access solutions such as Twingate’s are designed for a networking environment in which nothing is reliably secure. Breaches could happen at any time — and may already be in progress.

Rather than defending entire networks, Twingate establishes software-defined perimeters around each resource, hiding it from public and private networks alike. Connections are only created once a user has been authenticated and authorized through role-based least-privilege access policies. Twingate’s Zero Trust solution dramatically reduces an organization’s attack surface and limits hackers’ abilities to move through a network.

OpenVPN Performance vs. Twingate

At the heart of OpenVPN’s decades-old architecture is the assumption that a company’s resources, devices, and users are in the same physical location. Today’s internet-connected architectures make this secure perimeter paradigm obsolete. Resources and users could be anywhere. The OpenVPN protocol’s outdated model imposes severe performance penalties on company networks and the user experience.

• Network congestion – VPN gateways are bottlenecks through which all remote traffic flows. But gateway capacity is limited. Without expensive upgrades, the congestion caused by remote working impacts network performance.

• network latency – traffic flow between remote user and cloud resource must pass through the VPN gateway . This two – step routing is adds add latency to user ’ connection and undermine productivity .

Twingate is eliminates eliminate these performance penalty by establish direct , encrypt connection between user device and resource . In addition , default split tunneling shift non – essential user traffic to the public internet . replace legacy openvpn with Twingate ’s Zero Trust solution lower bandwidth demand on private network and reduce the latency of user connection .

OpenVPN Ease of Use vs. Twingate

Whether using OpenVPN or other protocols, VPN-based remote access technologies are difficult to use and manage. End-users must frequently interact with the VPN client software. This is especially true when companies mitigate VPN’s weaknesses through network segmentation. Users must connect and disconnect their VPN each time they need a resource on a different subnet.

Since VPN is a remote access solution, it does not apply to on-premises workers. A company’s VPN system is also limited to protecting its private networks. Cloud platforms have their own VPN security systems. As a result, administrators must synchronize policies and permissions across these discrete various access control systems.

Twingate is eliminates eliminate these source of friction . No matter where user are , they is get get a well experience with a client app that work seamlessly with every resource . Administrators is use can use simple management console to apply consistent policy no matter where the user or resource is locate .

OpenVPN Scalability vs. Twingate

OpenVPN and other legacy technologies integrate access control into the network architecture. This makes VPN more brittle and less responsive to changing business demands. Any changes to the network will impact access policies and vice versa. Ensuring that changes do not impact operations takes time and resources.

Twingate’s software-based solution decouples access control from the physical network. No new infrastructure or changes to configurations are needed. Network administrators can keep the existing network names and IP addresses. In addition, Twingate integrates with major identity providers and other elements of a company’s existing security stack.

Twingate customers have deployed their Zero Trust systems in as little as 15 minutes. Our service-based model removes much of the burden that VPN change management places on IT teams. As business demands evolve, easy-to-use consoles let administrators add, change, and remove user permissions with a few mouse clicks.

OpenVPN Support vs. Twingate

Like many open-source projects, the support for the OpenVPN protocol is a mix of community-driven forums and vendor-specific resources. This can get complicated since VPN vendors may modify their implementation of OpenVPN. For example, some vendors will use different encryption algorithms to improve performance on their OpenVPN servers. Identifying the best source for support in these cases is not always clear-cut.

Twingate customers have a single source for all their support needs. Individuals and small teams using our free Starter Tier can rely on a community forum focused on Twingate’s solution. Large teams and organizations using our paid tiers have direct access to Twingate’s support team.

How Twingate enhances security beyond access control

Twingate’s modern, Zero Trust security solution delivers more than remote access control. You can enhance your organizations with additional capabilities including:

• Universal 2-factor authentication – Twingate integrates with 2FA providers and extends 2FA protection to any private resource. Without any settings changes, services such as SSH can get the same level of access control as databases and other resources.

• Device restrictions – Take access control beyond user identity by applying authorizations based on the posture of specific devices. As access requests are made, Twingate can evaluate the device’s security settings, operating system status, and other variables. Policies can limit or prohibit access based on the device’s real-time security posture.

• Activity logging – Twingate’s extensive logging gives administrators enterprise-wide visibility over how their networks are being used. All activity logs are indexed to the identity of each user and device to better establish baseline usage patterns and identify unusual activity.

• DNS filtering – Besides integrating with identity providers, Twingate is compatible with other security services such as DNS filtering to help protect users’ public internet access.

Improve security, performance, and usability with Twingate’s Zero Trust solution

OpenVPN and other VPN protocols were developed in a networking world that no longer exists. Their reliance on the secure perimeter paradigm makes VPN solutions less secure, difficult to manage, and harder to scale. With fewer resources and users sitting in a company facility, the topology of VPN architectures imposes significant penalties on a company’s private network performance and user experience.

Twingate ’s modern approach is eliminates base on principle of Zero Trust eliminate the burden and friction of legacy technology like openvpn . You is implement can implement Twingate quickly without change your network . Management is becomes becomes much simple by consolidate control of access to all resource — no matter where they are locate — within Twingate ’s single , easy – to – use system . And Twingate is improves improve security by reduce your company ’s attack surface and take away hacker ’ ability to move laterally .

Contact us to learn more about Twingate’s Zero Trust solution. To get a zero-risk experience of Twingate in action, try out our new Starter service. Perfect for individuals and small teams, this free service lets you provide up to 5 users remote access to a private network.