July 2022 Summaries

VPN alternatives, such as Remote Desktop Protocol and virtual desktops, software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WAN), and secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, have emerged to address the weaknesses of traditional virtual private networks (VPNs). However, many of these alternatives share similar challenges with VPNs, including security vulnerabilities, performance bottlenecks, and management complexities. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is a modern security framework that eliminates the weaknesses of legacy secure perimeter approaches like VPN by unifying access control for all users and resources no matter their location. ZTNA assumes that any network, device, credential, user, or resource could already be compromised, explicitly verifies every attempt to access a protected resource, and only grants the degree of access users need in each session. By replacing VPN's hub-and-spoke topology with direct tunnels, Twingate's solution creates software-defined perimeters around protected assets, granular access control rules are enforced on user devices before making any connections, and encrypted tunnels passing directly between user devices and protected resources improve performance dramatically. Twingate also offers a phased deployment approach, compatibility with CI/CD pipelines, and simple administrative tools to make replacing your VPN system easy and risk-free.

At Twingate, they believe creating dynamic least privilege access management workflows is crucial for maintaining a flexible zero trust framework. Opal, an access management platform, helps enterprise companies scale least privilege with unified visualizations across the organization, productivity workflows, and accelerated user access reviews. The CEO of Opal, Stephen Cobbe, emphasizes that least-privileged access management can be implemented incrementally, starting by identifying sensitive resources, substituting longstanding access with ephemeral and just-in-time access, conducting regular access reviews, and auditing role definitions. Customers have integrated Opal with their internal tooling to expose authorization models in Opal's browsable catalog of access and leverage its powerful workflows. Opal fits into the Zero Trust ecosystem by providing defense-in-depth tenet support, requiring requests to be MFA gated or contain a support ticket for approval. Integrating tools within the Zero Trust space is important to offer a seamless experience, reducing friction in day-to-day operations. Organizations have seen a growing awareness of implementing real-time access controls across their corporate resources, but often rely on custom internal tooling, which can be difficult and expensive to maintain. As companies adopt zero trust tools and ephemeral access, attackers will need to evolve by targeting user behavior through social engineering. Opal offers a solution for rapidly implementing modern Zero Trust networks that are more secure and maintainable than VPNs.

Cloud infrastructure security is a framework that combines policies, best practices, and technologies to ensure cloud resources are secure against internal and external threats. It addresses challenges such as inconsistent security policies, regulatory compliance, and the need for a different approach to address security in distributed architectures. Cloud infrastructure security frameworks provide a unified approach to cloud security, unifying security across your cloud infrastructure, simplifying the setting and enforcement of security policies. They offer benefits such as reduced attack surface, minimized cyber risks, improved business performance, and financial benefits. Implementing a cloud infrastructure security plan can improve your business by making security easier to manage, protecting company data better, and improving operational efficiency. Cloud security solutions like Twingate's Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solutions make it easier to implement Zero Trust in cloud infrastructure security, providing automation tools, simple administrative consoles, and granular control over each cloud resource.