As the threat landscape rapidly evolves, VPNs cannot provide the secure, segmented access organizations need.
The 2023 VPN Risk Report reveals the complexity of today's VPN management, user experience issues, vulnerabilities to diverse cyberattacks, and their potential to impair organizations' broader security posture.
VPN Vulnerabilities and Cybersecurity Impacts: Despite their critical role, VPNs pose security risks, with 88% of organizations expressing a slight to extreme concern that VPNs may jeopardize their environment's security.
The increasing threat of cyberattackers exploiting VPN vulnerabilities underscores the urgent need to address the security of current VPN architectures.
Users reported a less than optimal experience, with a majority of users dissatisfied with their VPN experience, highlighting the need for more user-friendly and reliable remote access solutions in the digital workplace.
In the survey, 9 of 10 respondents expressed concern about third parties serving as potential backdoors into their networks through VPN access.
37% of respondents are planning to replace their VPN with Zero Trust Network Access solutions.
End Users Struggle with VPN. Among the VPN problems encountered, slow connection speed when accessing applications via VPN is the most prevalent, reported by 25% of respondents.
The primary purpose of VPNs in most organizations is to enable access for remote employees.
A significant number of end users utilize VPN daily or almost daily, showing high dependency on VPNs for daily, routine business operations.
User Dissatisfaction with VPN. Assessing user satisfaction with VPN experience is critical, as dissatisfaction not only impacts productivity but can lead to non-compliance with security policies, which in turn could introduce security vulnerabilities.
A significant majority of users are dissatisfied with their VPN experience, highlighting the need for more user-friendly and reliable remote access solutions in the digital workplace.
The survey reveals that the biggest headache in managing VPN infrastructure, as indicated by 22% of the respondents, is balancing VPN performance with user experience.
Troubleshooting VPN connectivity and stability issues is also a significant concern, impacting nearly 20% of respondents, closely followed by the effort required to keep up with frequent software patches and updates at 18%. Interestingly, only 9% of respondents cite increasing VPN infrastructure costs as their biggest headache.
Granting third parties access through a VPN is a necessary business practice, but it also raises serious security concerns.
Organizations should enforce rigorous security measures when granting VPN access to third parties.
VPNs have a long history of vulnerabilities and require IT teams to constantly patch their VPN servers.
According to the survey, a sizable portion of organizations have experienced one or more attacks on their VPN servers in the past 12 months that exploited software vulnerabilities in VPN servers, highlighting the urgent need for more secure remote access solutions.
The transition from VPN to Zero Trust Network Access solutions marks a significant shift in modern cybersecurity strategies, given the heightened focus on least-privileged access and microsegmentation inherent in ZTNA. Four out of 10 organizations are transitioning to ZTNA, demonstrating an active response to evolving security requirements.
This report is based on the results of a comprehensive online survey of 382 IT and cybersecurity professionals, conducted in June 2023 to identify the latest enterprise adoption trends, challenges, gaps, and solution preferences related to VPN risk.
This Cyber News was published on www.cybersecurity-insiders.com. Publication date: Sun, 17 Dec 2023 10:43:05 +0000