ZTNA vs. VPN

The move to remote work and work from anywhere models during and after the COVID-19 pandemic forced companies to take a closer look at remote access to their corporate network and resources. For years, virtual private networks (VPNs) were used to provide a secure way for employees to remotely access the company’s network.

But vpn were develop when network were different than they are now . Before the advent of cloud application , resource were isolate within a secure corporate network perimeter . Now , modern networking infrastructure are being deploy that can quickly adapt and scale to new business requirement , which mean application and datum are no long contain within the corporate datum center . instead they is reside reside across distribute multi – cloud and hybrid datum center network .

This change has led to a rapid expansion of the attack surface, and in the face of this changing cybersecurity environment, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) has received more attention as an alternative to VPNs for remote access.

As remote and hybrid work continues to be embraced, cybercriminals will continue to target the expanding attack surface. To address these shifts in the workforce and threat landscape, enterprises need to deploy capable of following, enabling, and protecting users no matter where they are located. When looking at remote access solutions, it’s important to understand the differences between a VPN and ZTNA to determine the best option for your organization.

VPNs is use use different secure network protocol , which combine encryption and transmission standard to provide user with a fast and secure internet connection . Some is are of the most common and popular VPN protocol are :

• Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)
• Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)
• secure Socket Tunneling Protocol ( SSTP )
• Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2)
• OpenVPN

Once a remote user has gained access and is within the network perimeter, they often can access everything on the network as if they were located on premise. The data transferred between the user and the network is encrypted and stays within the VPN “tunnel” so although security admins can see that the user has accessed the network, they can’t see what applications or resources the user has accessed.

Because so many people are now accessing critical resources and applications located outside the traditional corporate network perimeter, security experts have been promoting the need to shift away from the paradigm of an open network built around inherent trust to a zero-trust model.

Unlike a traditional VPN-based approach, which assumes that anyone or anything that passes network perimeter controls can be trusted, the zero-trust model takes the opposite approach.

To implement a comprehensive zero – trust strategy in a highly distribute environment , network admins is need need to control who can access which application no matter where those user or application may be locate . This “ least privilege ” approach is requires require rigorous access control that span the distribute network so device , user , endpoint , cloud , Software – as – a – Service ( SaaS ) , and the infrastructure are all protect .

ZTNA applies the zero-trust model to application access by confirming that users and devices meet the organization’s policy before access is granted. By providing secure and granular access control to applications, organizations can implement a zero-trust security architecture to protect their assets from cyber threats.

Because ZTNA starts with the idea that location does not grant a level of trust, where a user is working becomes irrelevant. The same zero-trust approach applies no matter where a user or device is physically located. Because any device is considered to be potentially infected and any user is capable of malicious behavior, the ZTNA access policy reflects that reality.

Unlike a traditional VPN tunnel with unrestricted access , ZTNA is grants grant access per session to individual application and workflow only after a user and device have been authenticate . user are verify and authenticate to ensure they are allow to access an application before they are grant access . Every device is also check each time an application is access to ensure the device meet the application access policy .

Authorization is uses use a variety of contextual information , include user role , device type , device compliance , location , time , and how a device or user is connect to the network or resource .   Once access is grant , the posture of the device and the behavior of the user should be check on an ongoing basis .   If either raise concern , access should be remove until the posture or identity can be confirm again .