ZTNA vs Remote Access VPN

Remote access VPN has long served us well, but the recent increase in remote working has cast a spotlight on the limitations of this aging technology. Many are looking for a better solution to connect remote workers to the applications and data they need to do their jobs.

Watch the video or read-on to discover how ZTNA is the ultimate remote-access VPN replacement:

Key challenges with remote access VPN

• Management – Remote access VPN was never built for mass adoption, as many organizations have discovered. It doesn’t scale well, becoming a full-time job just trying to manage the basics. It just makes managing a remote workforce and application access more difficult than it needs to be: from on-boarding new users, to getting insights into application access, to decommissioning users when they leave.
• Security issues – Remote access VPN also provides all-or-nothing access, broadly exposing applications and infrastructure to anyone on the network. Not surprisingly, remote access VPN is now increasingly being targeted by attackers attempting to exploit vulnerabilities in vulnerable old VPN clients to get a foothold on networks to deploy ransomware and steal data. Remote access VPN also doesn’t care what device connects to the network – or what its health is. It will just as easily let a fully hacked and compromised endpoint connect as a compliant and healthy one.
• User frustration – Remote access VPN is also notoriously unreliable and slow. It often doesn’t work from some networks, fails to connect at the most inopportune time, and tends to slow down access to a crawl as some or all traffic is often backhauled through that tunnel which is both inefficient and unnecessary. Remote access VPN is probably one of your top help-desk call drivers.

How ZTNA helps

ZTNA or zero trust network access is a new and better way of providing remote access – without all the frustrations, limitations, and security gaps of remote-access VPN.

What makes ZTNA better?

ZTNA is founded on the principles of zero trust, which means no one is provided access to anything until they are vetted, validated, and approved. Trust is earned, not given… continuously.

• Zero trust security – With ZTNA, users only have granular access to specific applications and resources, not the entire network. And only when their device is healthy and their identity can be proven with multi-factor authentication. As a result, ZTNA is substantially more secure – especially when the ZTNA agent is integrated into the world’s best next-gen endpoint – as it is with Sophos – sharing device health with Synchronzied Security and providing the best end-to-end protection solution for remote workers, their identities, and your network and applications.
• Transparent experience – Gone are the old vulnerable VPN clients, in favor of no client or very light-weight agents. It works everywhere, and anywhere, even in the office. ZTNA is transparent – it’s invisible – it just works, making it effortless for both your end-users and folks like you who are managing it.
• Easier management – ZTNA is built from the ground up for the modern perimeter-less world we live in… to enable secure access to your network and applications at scale, easily, while also providing invaluable insights into application usage activity.

Sophos ZTNA – single agent, single console, single vendor

And with Sophos ZTNA, you get the added benefit of a single-agent, single-console, single vendor solution for both ZTNA, and next-gen endpoint. It’s a unique and award-winning approach – all managed from Sophos Central alongside all your other Sophos products. It makes onboarding and deployment simpler, provides better protection, a light-weight footprint on the device, and much easier management.

Sophos ZTNA is a game changer for remote access. Check it out today at Sophos.com/ZTNA.