Why VPNs Remain a Weak Link and How Zero‑Trust Secures Remote Access

During the COVID‑19 pandemic, awareness of VPN risks increased, yet remote work forced many companies to rely even more on this traditional access method. Zscaler’s VPN risk report shows attackers exploiting long‑standing vulnerabilities, making VPNs a major security weak point.

Zscaler Global CIO Deepen Desai states that VPNs remain one of the weakest links in cybersecurity, with architectural flaws giving attackers entry points for lateral movement and data theft.

To defend against evolving threats, enterprises should consider a zero‑trust architecture, which differs from VPN by not placing users on the same network as critical assets, segmenting applications, minimizing attack surfaces, and providing full TLS inspection to prevent network disruption and data loss.

Zero‑Trust Guarantees Secure Remote Access

Although many employees have returned to the office, 95% of surveyed enterprises still depend on VPNs to support hybrid, distributed work across regions.

Large organizations also extend network access to customers, partners, and contractors, often from untrusted devices on insecure networks, increasing risk. Unlike cumbersome, insecure VPNs, zero‑trust improves security posture without sacrificing user experience.

Zero‑trust also lets IT keep the location of networks and applications confidential, reducing attack surfaces and internet‑based threats.

VPN Risks Continue to Grow

The pandemic’s surge in remote workers sharply raised network‑attack risk, with attacks seemingly tailored for VPN users.

Compared with zero‑trust, VPNs grant users higher trust, prompting attackers to exploit exposed surfaces for unauthorized access.

According to Zscaler’s report, 44% of security professionals observed an increase in VPN attacks over the past year, indicating significant risk when deploying VPNs for remote users.

Traditional security architectures are deeply entrenched in data‑center environments, making it difficult to adopt new models.

Enterprises should remain vigilant about relying on cloud‑based VPNs and evaluate vendor architectures for risk reduction and user‑experience benefits.

VPN Alternatives

Persistent VPN risks are driving a shift toward zero‑trust security, offering greater flexibility for remote access management.

78% of surveyed companies say their future work model will be hybrid, sustaining demand for secure infrastructure.

Since moving to remote and hybrid work, 68% of respondents are accelerating zero‑trust projects. Unlike VPNs, zero‑trust treats all network traffic as potentially hostile and enforces identity‑based verification, allowing IT and security teams to restrict access to prohibited applications and prevent lateral movement by malicious actors.

Zero‑trust also eliminates attack surfaces, masks internet‑based threats, and connects users directly to required applications and resources, thereby reducing network risk.

Note: This article’s content was collected from helpnetsecurity.com; the compiler assumes responsibility for completeness but not for accuracy or validity.