Boost Connectivity & Security for Hybrid Workers

A New Gold Standard

The way business gets done continues to evolve and adapt. Over the last several years, most organizations have moved toward a cloud-centric or hybrid-cloud networking environment. Similarly, many organizations now must align the needs of a distributed and hybrid workforce with their business goals, security posture, and overall customer experience. These evolving changes expose some of the shortcomings of VPN, which, until recently, had been a reliable legacy technology. However, VPN has now become insufficient as a standalone technology for secure remote access.

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The new gold standard for remote access is Zero Trust architecture. This security protocol exemplifies the cybersecurity principle of “never trust, always verify.” For companies struggling to keep their remote access resources and applications secure and stable, consider implementing Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), an identity-centric, context-aware, perimeter-less security technology that can integrate with (or replace) existing VPNs. At Fastblue, we offer high performance ZTNA technologies from industry-leading suppliers to provide fast connectivity and secure, scalable networking for global enterprise.

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Challenges: Then And Now

During the pandemic, businesses quickly learned that VPNs were not designed to provide constant, secure connectivity to an enterprise of remote users. Those Covid-era demands pushed traditional VPN to its limits. More recently - and especially with an increase in VPN-exploited security breaches - organizations are learning the hard way that VPN use alone cannot meet performance and security demands. These days,frustrations around legacy VPN impact end users and IT alike:

• End users - bothered by poor performance, frequent disruptions, and complicated

sign-in processes

• IT/Cybersecurity Team - see VPN flaws as a liability, creating vulnerabilities to

ransomware, theft, espionage, and other network breaches

As a result, many businesses are now moving away from VPN. And, for companies choosing to continue using VPN for remote access, current insights demonstrate that it should be used only as part of a layered security strategy based on zero trust principles. The demands of digital business and cybersecurity concerns should compel organizations to adopt a Zero Trust perspective toward network planning and decision making.

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Solution: High Performance ZTNA

Zero Trust Network Access helps solve the problem of an unstable VPN for remote access. Unlike a VPN, Zero Trust applications deliver a decentralized, “guilty until proven innocent” connection to users, devices, and applications. Where a VPN uses a centralized system that – once compromised – provides hackers with the ability to move laterally through your network, ZTNA requires identity-based authentication. This improvement allows a Zero Trust network to simultaneously create dynamic, one-to-one connections between multiple locations and the resources needed to support each remote user. Additionally, ZTNA supports a reduced attack surface and hardened security posture against incoming threats. Implementing ZTNA can better protect business networks, applications, and resources, especially when it’s deployed as part of a cloud-based network solution like SASE or Managed SASE. Replacing standalone VPN - or layering it with additional security tools - can improve both end-to-end security and overall network performance.

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Fastblue Recommendations

Based on our industry insights, here are our top recommendations for adding ZTNA to your network solutions:

• CATO: With an eye on global, mobile performance, CATO provides users with a Zero Trust service that connects directly to their SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) Global Network. This provides the benefits of a Zero Trust Network and gives users private connectivity from their device to the SaaS application in use. Globally, users can use CATO’s private backhaul to connect between apps and regions.

• AppGate: As one of the most mature players in the Zero Trust market, AppGate provides global enterprises with secure connectivity for their users. AppGate can be deployed in a few hours and can support thousands of users across SaaS, UC, and on-premises assets.

• Cloudbrink: As a leader in Zero Trust, Cloudbrink utilizes an all-software solution and integrated ZTNA technologies to deliver secure, high performance connectivity to remote and hybrid workforces, globally. With a software-defined architecture and thousands of POPs, Cloudbrink provides improved network performance for remote users.

• Zscaler: Combining Zero Trust, SASE, and AI, Zscaler delivers reliable connectivity and privileged access for global users, applications, devices, and resources. With a focus on integrating AI, their solutions help confront AI-driven security threats and provide visibility and control across global networks.

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