AWS Verified Access
In May 2023, AWS announced the release of AWS Verified Access, enabling customers to provide VPN-less, secure access to their corporate applications. Built using AWS Zero Trust principles, Verified Access aims to help customers reduce the risks associated with remote connectivity. It allows IT administrators and developers to define fine-grain access per application using real-time contextual signals, including identity and device posture, along with giving customers the ability to manage policies for each application in one place, AWS said.
Verified Access supports integration with AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect web applications from application-layer threats and the passing of signed identity context to application endpoints, according to AWS. AWS said use cases include:
- Securing distributed users by evaluating each request in real-time against predefined security requirements to facilitate secure access to applications.
- Managing corporate application access with access policies using security signal input like user identity and device security status.
- Evaluating access requests and logging of request data, accelerating analysis of and response to security and connectivity incidents.
Netskope ZTNA Next and Endpoint SD-WAN
In April 2023, Netskope committed to 100% legacy VPN retirement with the release of ZTNA Next — a fully integrated service that aims to provide a clear path to complete replacement of remote access VPNs for all application access use cases. The vendor said it reduces the digital attack surface, enhances security posture with zero trust principles, and boosts remote worker productivity with a seamless and optimized application access experience.
Netskope also released Netskope Endpoint SD-WAN, claiming an “industry-first” software-based SASE offering converging SD-WAN and Security Service Edge (SSE) capabilities. It claimed that organizations can use Netskope Endpoint SD-WAN to reduce the cost and complexity of hybrid working, simplifying connectivity, eliminating the sprawl of multiple clients and point products, and preserving network performance at scale.
Key benefits of Endpoint SD-WAN include unified architecture and consistent context-aware policy, providing every remote user, device, and site with simple, secure, high-performance access to hybrid and multi-cloud environments, according to Netskope. It also features AI-driven operations, high-performance connectivity for critical voice, video, and data applications, and optimized user experience.
Inside-Out Defense
At the same time, cybersecurity vendor Inside-Out Defense emerged from stealth with the launch of a new privilege access abuse detection and remediation platform. The SaaS, agentless platform supports all environments and applications, complementing existing identity and IAM, PAM, and custom identity solutions, the firm said.
Inside-Out Defense said the platform’s key features include:
- Privilege abuse remediation by detecting access abuse behaviors in real-time and providing in-line remediation of malicious privilege access through a kill switch.
- A 360-degree profile of malicious access requests, their context, and intent, offering a real-time view of the organization’s access posture.
- Coverage across the organization’s environments includes infrastructure (cloud and on-premises), applications (SaaS, managed, unmanaged), APIs, and human/ non-human users.
Palo Alto Networks Prisma
In March 2023, cybersecurity vendor Palo Alto Networks announced new SD-WAN features in its Prisma SASE solution for IoT device security and to help customers meet industry-specific security compliance requirements. Prisma SD-WAN with integrated IoT security enables accurate detection and identification of branch IoT devices, Palo Alto Networks stated. It allows customers to enable security controls from within the familiar cloud management for Prisma SASE without the need for additional appliances and sensors to be deployed in the network to gain visibility into IoT devices and prevent threats.
Prisma SD-WAN provides extra visibility into intra-branch traffic, allowing Prisma Access to provide a rich and accurate IoT inventory while ensuring IoT devices are egressing application traffic from the branch on encrypted SD-WAN fabric to Prisma Access where they are inspected to ensure zero-trust, Palo Alto Networks said.
[Editor’s note: This article, originally published on 11 October 2021, has been updated with other VPN-less options in May 2023 and November 2024.]
