ZTNA VS ON-PREMISES VPNS FOR THE HYBRID WORKFORCE

2ZTNA VS ON-PREMISES VPNS FOR THE HYBRID WORKFORCE

Securing the Modern Corporate Network In the current era of public cloud resources and hybrid work environments, legacy VPNs fall short in providing the secure remote access modern businesses require. This leaves organizations vulnerable to security breaches and increases the risk of cyberattacks.

By default, VPNs lack any granular access controls that restrict users to only the specific applications they need. Instead, users within the organization gain access to the entire internal network, which expands the attack surface and exposes the organization to threats should an attacker ever gain that user’s credentials.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), by comparison, supports companies with segmented user access to reduce the attack surface and provide secure access to resources whether they’re on-prem or in the cloud.

Enterprise-Grade Network Security for All Businesses The traditional perimeter-focused approach grants implicit trust to any user that enters the network via an approved VPN tunnel. This means that compromised VPN credentials can lead to malicious “authenticated” access by attackers who can move laterally through the network.

ZTNA grants access to corporate resources based on the principle of, “never trust, always verify.” Identity must be confirmed for every transaction based on identity, device, and contextual elements such as location and time of day. Access must also be continuously verified to ensure users don’t drift out of compliance during a connection session.

The principles of ZTNA also demand that users be granted access to resources on an application-by- application basis. Stricter access control narrows an organization’s attack surface and helps reduce data breaches and data loss, system and application vulnerabilities, advanced persistent threats (APTs), denial of service attacks, account hijacking, and the impact of malicious insiders.

Ideal ZTNA solutions are delivered from a flexible cloud-based platform that converges the secure connectivity of a VPN with easily implemented granular access rules for better overall security. Moreover, this all happens inside a single management platform that provides a 360-degree view of network activity.

ZTNA: Never trust, always verify

3ZTNA VS ON-PREMISES VPNS FOR THE HYBRID WORKFORCE

ZTNA Is a Process ZTNA isn’t a switch you flip inside a platform; it's a strategy that employs a set of technologies to identify, authenticate, and verify each user requesting access to company applications and resources. Instead of setting up roadblocks, however, ZTNA checks happen seamlessly in the background, so your workforce doesn’t have to slow down to accommodate a higher degree of security.

• ZTNA starts by identifying users through integration with a company’s Identity Provider that ideally supports Single Sign-on (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

• Access is either blocked or permitted based on user identity, device security posture, contextual clues such as location, and specified access rules for each resource.

• During their connection session, users are repeatedly checked to ensure their identity, device posture, or other factors haven’t changed.

• If that posture changes during the session they are disconnected.

All of these steps lead to better security. A malicious actor with stolen credentials—assuming they could also defeat the SSO and MFA steps—would be limited to accessing specific applications, not the entire network. This significantly reduces the level of exposure and potential damage to the company network. To limit the attack surface and decrease the chances of online threats, ZTNA adoption in place of on-prem solutions is a critical strategic shift.

Comparing ZTNA vs On-Prem VPN

Zero Trust Network Access Legacy VPNs

Core Philosophy Assumes no implicit trust; identity is the new perimeter.

Extends the trusted corporate network to remote users.

Trust Model Continuously verifies identity and context for every access request.

Authenticates once at connection, then grants broad trust.

Primary Use Case Securing a modern, distributed workforce (remote, hybrid, third- party) accessing applications anywhere.

Site-to-site connectivity; remote access for organizations with primarily on-premises resources.

Device Posture Check Natively and continuously assesses device posture throughout the user session.

Can verify device compliance at the time of connection typically via NAC integration.

Cost Reduction Cloud-based ZTNA reduces configuration complexity and onboarding time.

Hardware requires manual installation, configuration, physical storage space, cooling, ongoing maintenance, and trained personnel to install and maintain. VPN upgrades via concentrators can be very costly and complex to manage.

Unified Management Networks and users are easily managed from a single dashboard.

Each on-prem appliance is typically individually managed often with complex interfaces.

4ZTNA VS ON-PREMISES VPNS FOR THE HYBRID WORKFORCE

Zero Trust Network Access Legacy VPNs Performance Connects users to the nearest cloud

PoP for direct, low-latency routing to applications and the internet.

Backhauls all traffic through a central data center, creating latency and bottlenecks.

Simpler and More Secure User Authentication

Centralized management of user access with identification and multi- factor authentication. Wide support of IdPs, for easy single sign-on (SSO).

User identities managed across multiple appliances.

Support for Unmanaged and Third-Party devices

Clientless access to individual apps for unmanaged devices, and avoid exposing the whole network to those users.

Requires an additional solution.

Easy and Fast User Onboarding Adding users and expanding networks can be done in minutes.

Scaling is often a complicated and manual process that requires planning, purchasing, and a long deployment time.

Full Network Visibility Unified platform for improved network visibility.

Network visibility is fragmented across different consoles and platforms.

Secure Granular Access Control Segmented user access across network resources.

Segmenting user access can be complicated, and may require additional hardware.

Converged Advanced Security Capabilities

Secure internet features such as web filtering and malware protection should be integrated alongside ZTNA to maximize network security.

VPNs are sometimes part of a more powerful firewall appliance with additional capabilities such as anti- malware and intrusion prevention.

Achieve user-centric Zero Trust access with Check Point SASE

5ZTNA VS ON-PREMISES VPNS FOR THE HYBRID WORKFORCE

Check Point SASE Private Access The Check Point SASE platform includes a powerful cloud-based ZTNA solution called Private Access.

• Private Access ensures that users access cloud resources via encrypted tunnels directly from the Check Point SASE global backbone, with granular access rules for network resources and application access

• The Check Point SASE network is global with more than 80 Points of Presence located at strategic locations around the world supporting minimal latency and a faster user experience for any user to any resource

• The Check Point SASE global backbone uses dual Tier-1 carrier networks with reserved bandwidth and peering agreements with all the major cloud providers

• Check Point SASE Internet Access with robust web filtering, malware protection, and SaaS Security adds another layer of defense to ensure users are secure while interacting with the open internet and SaaS platforms

• Private Access secures access to any network resource: company-owned data centers, public cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), or private cloud

• Private Access supports an array of ports and protocols, including non-web applications like VoIP

• Private Access includes agentless access with support for HTTP/S, SSH, RDP, and VNC

• SD-WAN with Check Point ThreatCloud integration optimizes steering for more than 10,000 business applications and adds an extra layer of site security

Check Point SASE for the Increasingly Complex Corporate Network

Fast Deployment: Check Point SASE allows you to purchase, provision, and enable secure zero-trust access on-prem, in the cloud, and anywhere in between. Easy scalability and transparent pricing allow you to easily grow, backed by our 24/7 Customer Success engineers.

Unified Management: Effortlessly manage and onboard employees, deploy a multi-regional network quickly, and install our cross-platform agent across all endpoints within a single dashboard.

6ZTNA VS ON-PREMISES VPNS FOR THE HYBRID WORKFORCE

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Full Visibility: Effectively monitor network health, view employee resource access, integrate with leading SIEM providers, and identify any suspicious activity for a unified view of your network security.

Converged Security: Avoid the complexity of using multiple cybersecurity solutions in favor of a single platform that makes it easy to configure your network, implement security policies, detect attacks, and defend against data breaches.

Infinity Platform: SASE is integrated within Check Point’s Infinity Portal, providing a unified management security platform for the data center, network, and cloud.

Ready to see how ZTNA can transform your network security?

Book a Demo

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