3 things that frustrate you about VPNs

The nature of work has changed. Mobility and remote work, third-party contractors, and consultants became the norm in every modern business.

Providing secure and mobile access to corporate resources for these constituents is now an essential requirement of every IT organization.

Access solutions, such as VPN, built in the 1990s for wired and static networks have not sufficiently adapted to the current paradigm shift in IT: the increase of mobility, SaaS apps, public/private cloud services, and hybrid-IT environments.

The market needs a solution that works seamlessly in both multi-cloud and hybrid-IT environments with mobility at its core.

1. Inefficient performance

VPN solutions can be frustrating for employees, especially sales, DevOps teams, and site reliability engineers. Legacy VPN solutions:

• Significantly degrade network performance


• Consume copious amounts of battery on mobile and portable devices


• Require constant switching back and forth between networks that create additional usability obstacles, wasting precious time, and adding to the level of frustration

How to solve it:

Barracuda CloudGen Access enables a better remote access experience for end users without any performance degradation. How? Barracuda CloudGen Access is:

• Out of the way, out of sight, and works in the background to seamlessly and securely enable access to corporate resources


• Mobile-first and built to eliminate intermittent connectivity challenges, reduce latency, and improve data throughput

2. Security risks

From a SecOps team perspective, legacy VPN solutions create significant security risks to their networks as VPN was designed to “teleport” a remote device directly into the network.

• If mobile employees or contractors access the internal corporate network from an infected or compromised laptop, the malware will spread to this network due to the network being most typically flat and unsegmented.


• Recent WannaCry ransomware infections through VPN connections is a major testament to that fact.

How to solve it:

Barracuda CloudGen Access offers a new approach to remote access built on the Zero Trust Networking principles.

• Barracuda CloudGen Access provides access only to the corporate app that is explicitly granted to the user.


• Barracuda CloudGen Access establishes a strong identity on the end device and only permits access to the applications and resources that conform to the corporate access policy.


• Barracuda CloudGen Access offers granular security controls and attack surface reduction features that support access requirements for PCI DSS v3.2.1 and NIST 800-171 compliance frameworks. Our strong coverage of Section 8 and 12 of PCI DSS and section AC-17 of NIST-800 are robust drivers for adoption.

3. Lack of access visibility

A modern enterprise of any size requires visibility, a system of records, and a global access policy. It applies to all enterprise apps and resources, wherever they might reside: on SaaS, cloud, or on-premises. On the flip side, visibility and policy enforcement should also extend to any endpoint platform on any network.

• VPN solutions do not address the needs of modern infrastructure. It has traditionally been a static infrastructure component without centralized controls.

How to solve it:

Barracuda CloudGen Access offers a distributed access solution that works across on-premises, cloud, and SaaS apps.

• Corporate security and an access policy that is centrally curated is later enforced on all apps and devices regardless of infrastructure and network.


• Barracuda CloudGen Access currently offers the most compelling solution to secure legacy on-premises apps as well as modern cloud-native apps through a single global policy.


• Additionally, Barracuda CloudGen Access provides a system of record for all access requests originating from all users and devices to increase visibility.

The extensive visibility into who accesses what, offers a great way for your enterprise to be in control of the security. Coupled with enhanced and seamless user experience as well as upgraded security, Barracuda CloudGen Access can help you get rid of the usual VPN frustrations.

Get a closer look at Barracuda CloudGen Access