Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide security and anonymity to users browsing the internet. Through the use of encryption technology, VPNs make it hard for third party companies, advertisers, and even cyber criminals to track users’ internet activity and steal personal information. Most businesses, schools, and government entities include VPNs as part of their overall cyber-security programs.
The increase in the number of remote workers since the pandemic has caused incredible strain on older and legacy VPNs. With more and more companies relying on VDI, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and other virtual technologies, providing secure and stable connectivity has become increasingly challenging.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of the main reasons why legacy VPNs are being replaced and how switching to a hybrid-access-as-a-service (HAaaS) model is the solution to securing the workplace of the future.
Legacy VPNs are horribly slow and not that secure.
Traditional VPNs are too slow and outdated to keep up with an advanced digital and mobile workforce. Virtual video conferencing, team meetings, and productivity and project management apps are all vital for communication and accomplishing critical business goals. These applications require lightning fast speed and high-performance connectivity.
Slow and sometimes choppy network connections from older VPNs frustrates employees and lessens productivity. Legacy VPNs are also less secure, which makes them prime targets for cyber criminals to exploit network weaknesses and failures.
Today’s VPNs must be able to turbocharge connectivity and security while providing the highest level of end-to-end performance.
Using IPsec for VPNs isn’t conducive for a remote workforce.
Many organizations use IPsec (Internet Protocol secure) to set up and manage VPNs. IPsec works by encrypting connections between various devices that send and receive data through public networks over the internet.
The problem with using IPsecs for VPNs is that it greatly increases the strain on already overloaded networks, causing even slower and spottier performance. Another problem is a growing remote workforce using many different types of mobile devices. A lot of these devices don’t have the configuration capabilities or ability to support IPsec setup. Plus, these devices are constantly being upgraded and improved with new applications and features, making it difficult for IPsec to keep up.
Finally, IPsec isn’t easy to set up. Non-technical remote workers will have a difficult time trying to configure their own VPNs using IPsec protocols.
Legacy VPNs lead to more instances of packet loss.
Legacy VPNs rely on encapsulating data in additional layers of headers and protocols. As a result, there is an increase in overhead and network congestion and a decrease in security. This leads to greater packet loss.
Packet loss is the failure of certain “packets” of information to reach their destination. For the remote worker, just a small ammount of packet loss can cause the network protocols to reduce teh banwidth by over 95%. (You can refer to the failure blog or the ESnet Study) This can cause serious delays, data corruption and even complete network and application failure. With a mobile workforce reliant on so many different virtual communication applications, packet loss can become quite frustrating and lead to reduced efficiency and performance issues.
Next-generation VPN solutions such as Cloudbrink work in the background to ensure proper bandwidth, improve network speed, and eliminate packet loss.
Legacy VPN hardware is not scalable.
Legacy VPN hardware wasn’t built for scalability. A sudden (or even gradual) increase in traffic and users slows down connectivity and performance.
Maintenance and support for legacy VPN systems is another problem, as many vendors only provide support for a limited period of time. A lapse in support or security upgrades can leave a network vulnerable to cyber-attacks and system failures. Also, replacing legacy hardware is expensive, especially if the current system isn’t compatible with new operating systems and devices.
cloud-based VPNs provide the scalability and versatility that legacy hardware can’t, but the security and application performance issues remain
Legacy VPNs aren’t optimized for cloud-based business infrastructure.
Legacy VPNs were designed for a time when everyone worked in a physical office location,
but occasionally needed access to files and documents when home or traveling. Most of the VPN hardware and networks were located onsite where they could be managed and secured from a centralized location. A dedicated VPN client has to be installed on each device that is connected to the network, which is quite tedious and time-consuming for IT departments.
Now, everything’s shifted from an in-office, hardware-dependent premise to a remote-work, cloud-based infrastructure, with companies relying on cloud services such as Azure, GCP and AWS. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) enables the use of virtual machines to manage virtual desktops from a secure, centralized server using Zero Trust principles,
In order to keep up with this new cloud-based, remote-hybrid way of working, VPNs must be cloud-based as well.
Conclusion
Traditional VPNs have served their purpose but are simply no longer able to keep up with the rapid change in workforce trends. The legacy hardware is just too ill-equipped to handle a “cloud-everything” and “work-from-anywhere” environment. The new hybrid workforce requires faster speed and higher security than legacy VPNs can deliver.
The solution to this new hybrid workforce is Cloudbrink’s Hybrid-Access-as-a-Service (HAaaS) a new form of remote access technology.
To find out more, contact us at https://cloudbrink.com/contact.
