How can a business effectively plan its VPN strategy
Trends show that every year more and more companies express a desire to increase the share of remote work in the long term. As the demand for remote access through portable devices grows at a rapid pace, interested companies are planning to invest more in cybersecurity. However, the decisions taken VPN should not be implemented hastily; deficiencies in planning and choosing a strategy for implementing VPN technologies can create many vulnerabilities and security risks, which can lead to serious losses for companies.
Every second home office space is considered potentially vulnerable from a security point of view. This requires companies to recognize the importance of implementing a reliable and customized remote access solution. This is especially true for those companies that strive to ensure availability and maintain productivity in any circumstances.
New VPN strategy: where to start and what to pay special attention to
Whether organizations are looking to implement a temporary VPN solution or are planning to rebuild their entire remote access infrastructure, only a carefully planned VPN strategy will ensure data confidentiality and integrity on an ongoing basis. Assessing the current state of affairs is the ideal starting point for making the right decisions. It is important to consider the answers to the following questions:
- Was the existing VPN gateway implemented in accordance with internal policies?
- Do administrators have only the minimum necessary permissions?
- Does the VPN gateway share its logs with administrators or an information management system?
- Is the VPN gateway protected by a firewall to prevent potential attacks?
- Were existing vulnerabilities in the VPN gateway fixed before it was put into operation?
- Are connections secured using secure multiple factor authentication?
- How accessible, scalable and customizable are the VPN services used?
Using such a questionnaire, organizations can analyze their current VPN services and determine how they can be optimized in terms of performance, security and scalability. Assessing the current state of affairs is an important foundation for strategic planning of the VPN.
Based on the current situation, IT leaders must conduct a cost-benefit analysis of hardware and software solutions. From choosing the right platform to the right licensing model for a VPN solution, there are many important criteria. Purely software installations, for example, cloud VPN, offer some significant Benefits for reconfiguring your VPN strategy:
- No equipment shortages. VPN hardware solutions often face delivery and deployment delays, as well as price increases.
- Fast deployment. VPN software solutions can be quickly and easily deployed on standardized hardware or fully virtualized.
- Maximum scalability. VPN software solutions are more flexible and can easily scale to work with thousands of users.
Another important aspect when choosing the right VPN solution is the organization's processing of classified data. Such companies are required to maintain official secrecy and must choose a VPN solution that is approved for processing sensitive data.
VPN strategy update: important details
Convenient VPN solutions can significantly save time when performing routine tasks, such as managing user rights, managing certificates, or training employees in the field of VPN. When choosing VPN products, companies should ensure that there is a central management component so that the decision can be easily set up a VPN and ensure intuitive use for all employees.
The most important tasks for a VPN include secure communication and protection of sensitive data. Support for security standards, security features and flexibility of VPN solutions are key criteria when choosing the right solution:
- Standards: IPsec is the standard protocol for enterprise networks. However, proprietary protocol extensions implemented by VPN providers often limit companies. IT managers should pay attention to the IPsec protocol stack that complies with the standards of the country/countries in which or in which the company carries out its activities.
- Features: modern VPN solutions should support multiple authentication, network access control, reducing the load on servers by splitting tunnels and VPN bypass, as well as monitoring the quality of service inside an encrypted VPN tunnel.
- Flexibility: VPN solutions must adapt to the needs of the organization, and not vice versa.
Private VPN server: a key component of the company’s updated VPN strategy
A private VPN server, when properly integrated into a company's VPN infrastructure, can significantly enhance the security, flexibility and performance of the network, which makes it an important element in updating the VPN strategy.
Buying a private VPN server on favorable terms and getting comprehensive information about VPN technologies is now easier thanks to the Private VPN server. Here is information about the benefits of purchasing personal servers, payment options, geographic location of servers, answers to frequently asked questions and much more - everything you need to know is collected in one convenient and informative source.