The ghosts of cybersecurity past are haunting us again. Just this week, a critical vulnerability in SonicWall’s SSL VPN sent administrators scrambling to patch their systems, hoping to avoid the next breach headline. If you’re still relying on legacy VPNs to secure your remote access, this is a stark reminder: these aging technologies aren’t just inconvenient—they’re a ticking time bomb.

The Risky Ritual of Legacy VPN Maintenance

Keeping legacy VPNs alive often feels like trying to keep a zombie apocalypse at bay:

• Endless Patching: Legacy VPN appliances require constant updates to address vulnerabilities. Missing even one patch (or being a few days late) is like leaving your front door wide open in a bad neighborhood. The recent SonicWall CVE is just the latest in a long line of examples.
• Exposed Portals: VPN authentication portals are visible to the public internet, making them an open invitation for brute force or credential-stuffing attacks. Once attackers gain access, your network becomes their playground.
• Single Points of Failure: VPN concentrators act as bottlenecks, and when they go down—or worse, get compromised—the entire remote workforce is left stranded.

These risks make one thing clear: keeping legacy VPNs running isn’t just costly; it’s reckless.

ControlOne SASE: Your Cybersecurity Upgrade

Modern problems require modern solutions. Cytracom’s SASE platform, ControlOne, replaces legacy VPNs entirely, delivering a more secure, scalable, and reliable approach to remote access.

Here’s how ControlOne addresses the inherent weaknesses of VPNs:

• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): ControlOne uses a “trust no one, verify everything” approach. Unlike VPNs, which grant broad access to the entire network, ControlOne provides access only to specific resources users need. Attackers can’t exploit what they can’t see.
• Eliminating Public Attack Surfaces: While legacy VPN portals are exposed to the internet, ControlOne secures authentication behind a Zero Trust framework, making it invisible to unauthorized users.
• Automated Security Updates: Forget late-night patch cycles. As a cloud-native solution, ControlOne applies security updates automatically, ensuring your network is always protected.
• Built-In Threat Intelligence: ControlOne inspects traffic in real time, identifying and mitigating threats like malware and data loss. It doesn’t just secure remote access—it actively defends your network.
• Simplified Management: Managing remote access policies with legacy VPNs is a complex, error-prone process. ControlOne’s intuitive portal centralizes management, making it easy to secure your entire workforce, whether they’re in the office or remote.

Let VPNs Rest in Peace

Clinging to a legacy VPN is like keeping an outdated security system that you know isn’t effective. It’s only a matter of time before the risks catch up to you. ControlOne not only eliminates VPNs—it replaces them with a modern, comprehensive approach to secure access. Beyond solving the immediate challenges of remote access, ControlOne delivers enhanced security, seamless management, and advanced protection across your network. Ready to move on from the past? Contact us today to learn how ControlOne can replace your VPN and redefine your network security for the future.

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