Is Your Business VPN a Ticking Time Bomb? 5 Security Risks You Can’t Ignore

Traditional business VPNs, once the gold standard for secure remote access, are becoming a significant liability. Their core design, creating a wide, trusted perimeter around your network, is fundamentally at odds with modern security needs. This outdated model is being replaced by a more intelligent and secure approach: Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).

You know the routine. You log in, approve the multi-factor authentication (MFA) prompt, and start your work. An hour later, you step away for coffee, your computer goes to sleep, and when you return… another login, another MFA prompt. This daily friction is more than just an annoyance; it’s a symptom of a security model that invites risk by creating an open door to your network that’s always listening for a connection. ZTNA changes the game by making your network invisible to the public internet and granting access on a strictly need-to-know basis.

Key Takeaways

• VPNs Expose Your Network: Traditional VPNs require opening a hole in your firewall, creating a permanent, publicly visible target for attackers to probe and exploit.
• ZTNA “Darkens” Your Network: ZTNA solutions hide your applications from the public internet. Access is brokered through a secure cloud provider, meaning there’s no open door for attackers to find.
• The Problem of “Implicit Trust”: Once a user is authenticated through a VPN, they often have broad access to the entire internal network, allowing a single compromised account to cause widespread damage.
• ZTNA Improves User Experience: Modern ZTNA solutions reduce the constant need for re-authentication (MFA fatigue) and provide a more seamless, stable connection, even when your device goes to sleep.
• Scalability and M&A Are Simpler: ZTNA is built for growth, making it easy to add new sites or integrate acquired companies without complex and risky network meshing.

Table of Contents

• How Traditional VPNs Create Unseen Security Risks
• Introducing ZTNA: A Smarter Way to Secure Remote Access
• Beyond Security: The Operational Benefits of ZTNA
• Common Hurdles When Switching from VPN to ZTNA
• Glossary of Terms
• Frequently Asked Questions

How Traditional VPNs Create Unseen Security Risks

For years, VPNs were the accepted solution for remote work. You put a secure “tunnel” between a remote employee and the office network. The problem is, that tunnel leads into a wide-open castle. Once inside, an intruder—or an employee with compromised credentials—can often roam freely.

This model of “implicit trust” is where the biggest risks lie.

1. A Constant, Public-Facing Target: Your VPN is always listening for connections from the public internet. This makes it a prime target for attackers who continuously scan for vulnerabilities, run brute-force attacks, and attempt “credential stuffing” with stolen passwords until one works.
2. The Threat of Zero-Day Exploits: Even with MFA, VPN appliances themselves can have vulnerabilities. Attackers are constantly finding new “zero-day” exploits that allow them to bypass all authentication measures and gain direct access to your network.
3. Widespread Lateral Movement: A traditional VPN grants access to the network, not just a specific application. If an attacker compromises a single user’s credentials, they can often move laterally across your entire infrastructure, accessing file shares, applications, and sensitive data far beyond what that user needed for their job.
4. MFA Fatigue and User Frustration: Attackers can overwhelm users with constant MFA push notifications, a tactic known as “MFA bombing.” A frustrated user might eventually approve a prompt just to make them stop, unknowingly granting access. This, combined with the daily annoyance of re-authenticating, creates a poor user experience.
5. Scaling Complexity and Cost: For businesses with multiple locations, scaling a VPN architecture is expensive and complex. Each site needs its own hardware, licensing, and maintenance, creating a tangled web of site-to-site tunnels that increases both cost and security risks.

Introducing ZTNA: A Smarter Way to Secure Remote Access

Zero Trust Network Access operates on a simple but powerful principle articulated by the “Zero Trust” ideology: never trust, always verify. Instead of creating a wide-open gateway, ZTNA hides your network and applications entirely from the public internet.

Here’s how it works:

• An employee on their device initiates a connection request.
• This request goes to a ZTNA cloud provider, which acts as a secure broker.
• The cloud provider verifies the user’s identity and the security posture of their device (e.g., is it running the latest OS? Is the corporate security software active?).
• Only after verification does the provider create a secure, one-to-one tunnel directly to the specific application the user needs—and nothing else.

This approach effectively “darkens” your network. To an attacker scanning the internet, your resources simply don’t exist. There’s no open port to attack and no VPN appliance to exploit.

Beyond Security: The Operational Benefits of ZTNA

While the security improvements are profound, the switch to ZTNA delivers powerful operational advantages, especially for growing businesses.

Simplified Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

When you acquire a new company, integrating their network with yours via traditional VPNs is a massive, time-consuming project. With ZTNA, the process is radically simplified. You can place a lightweight ZTNA connector in the new subsidiary’s network and instantly grant their employees granular access to critical parent company applications (like billing) and vice-versa, without ever having to merge the two networks. This accelerates business flow and reduces the inherent risk of connecting a potentially less secure network to your own.

A Better Experience for Everyone

The transition to ZTNA is surprisingly seamless for end-users. In fact, their experience often improves dramatically.

• No More Constant Logins: ZTNA connections are more resilient. When a computer goes to sleep, the connection automatically re-establishes upon waking without requiring another MFA prompt. Many organizations configure policies that only require a single authentication per day or even per week.
• Seamless and Stable: Users simply turn on their computer and access the resources they need, just as they would in the office. The technology works quietly in the background.

Common Hurdles When Switching from VPN to ZTNA

The biggest challenge in moving to a ZTNA model isn’t technical—it’s organizational. Many businesses have never had to map out precisely who needs access to what. In a traditional VPN environment, everyone often gets access to everything by default.

Implementing ZTNA requires you to adopt the principle of least privilege. This means you must first identify what applications and data each department or role needs to do their job. While this requires some initial discovery and planning, it’s a foundational security practice that pays dividends by drastically reducing your attack surface.

The process often starts with simple questions for each department: “What on-premise applications or file shares do you access via the VPN on a daily basis?” This audit helps build the access policies that will make your organization more secure and efficient.

Glossary of Terms

• VPN (Virtual Private Network): A technology that creates an encrypted “tunnel” over a public network (like the internet) to connect a remote user to a private corporate network.
• ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access): A modern security model that replaces broad network access with granular, application-specific access based on verifying user identity and device trust, regardless of location.
• Zero Trust: A strategic security ideology that operates on the principle of “never trust, always verify.” It assumes no user or device is inherently trustworthy and requires strict verification for every access request.
• MFA Fatigue: A state of exhaustion or apathy in users caused by receiving an excessive number of multi-factor authentication prompts, making them more likely to approve a fraudulent request.
• Principle of Least Privilege: A security concept where a user is only granted the minimum levels of access—or permissions—that are essential to perform their job duties.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ZTNA difficult to implement?
No, the technical lift is surprisingly low. Most of the configuration is done in a cloud-based portal, and lightweight software connectors are deployed inside your network. The process can run in parallel with your existing VPN, allowing for a smooth, phased transition with no downtime.

Does ZTNA replace my firewall?
No, ZTNA is not a replacement for your firewall. A firewall is a broad network security device that filters traffic. ZTNA is a specific solution focused on providing secure remote access for users to applications. They work together as part of a layered security strategy.

Is ZTNA more expensive than a VPN?
While the per-user licensing for ZTNA can be higher than some VPN licenses, the total cost of ownership is often lower. ZTNA eliminates the need for expensive on-premise hardware, reduces maintenance overhead, and simplifies management, saving significant labor and capital costs over time.

Can I keep my VPN for specific use cases?
While the goal is to eliminate VPNs, some niche scenarios, like providing third-party emergency access for law enforcement to on-premise camera systems in a school, might temporarily require a legacy VPN. However, there are modern, more secure alternatives for nearly every use case, and organizations should actively work to phase out VPNs entirely.

Listen to the Full Episode

Hear our Director of Cybersecurity, Nate, dive deeper into the technical and strategic nuances of moving beyond VPNs.

Sources

The White House | https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/05/12/executive-order-on-improving-the-nations-cybersecurity/ | Supports the claim about the U.S. federal government’s executive order on improving cybersecurity, which includes zero trust initiatives.
NIST | https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework | Provides an authoritative source for the mentioned NIST Cybersecurity Framework, a key concept in identifying and protecting assets.
U.S. Department of Defense | https://dodcio.defense.gov/CMMC/ | Offers an official source for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), relevant to the discussion on compliance and government standards.