Yes. For most organizations, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) can fully replace a traditional remote access VPN. ZTNA gives users access to the specific applications they need, verifies identity and device posture on every connection, and keeps internal systems hidden from the internet. That removes many of the risks that come with VPN concentrators exposed to the internet.
Why organizations are replacing VPNs
- Exposure. VPN gateways are a frequent target. A run of critical, actively exploited vulnerabilities in VPN appliances has pushed many teams to remove them.
- Over-broad access. A VPN typically places a user on the network, so a compromised account can reach far more than it needs to.
- Performance. Backhauling traffic to a central data center adds latency, especially for cloud and SaaS applications.
- Operations. Hardware, capacity planning and patching add ongoing cost and support tickets.
What to check before replacing a VPN
A full replacement works best when you plan for the less common cases as well as web and SaaS applications:
- Legacy and non-web protocols. Some applications use protocols, such as SIP for voice or server-initiated connections, that application-only ZTNA products handle poorly. Check that your chosen platform supports them.
- Identity and posture. Connect your identity provider and endpoint security tools so policies can use them from day one.
- Performance. Test with real users on home, hotel and mobile networks, not only on the office LAN.
- Rollout. Migrate in groups, starting with users who have the simplest access needs, and keep the VPN running in parallel until each group is complete.
How Cloudbrink replaces VPNs
Cloudbrink was built as a VPN replacement. It provides full IP fidelity, including server-initiated connections, fixed LAN IP addresses and endpoint IP visibility, so legacy and developer applications can move over without keeping the old VPN. It is 100% software with no appliances, and a national insurance company moved 850 users from its legacy VPN to Cloudbrink in one week.
Customers have reduced support tickets by more than 90%, because performance problems that users blamed on the VPN largely disappear. Cloudbrink’s FAST Edges are never more than 20ms from users, with a median under 5.2ms, and keep connections stable even at 20% packet loss. Read more about enterprise VPN replacement.