DH2i Blog Article

Inspire Cybersecurity Innovation to Defuse the Ticking VPN Time Bomb

Josh Achtemeier

April 8, 2024

Facing the Cybersecurity Challenge of Proactive VPN Replacement

Whether in a high-profile breach in the news or our own environments, most of us have witnessed the vulnerabilities of virtual private networks (VPN), and we know it’s time to start evaluating more secure networking alternatives.

This aged technology:

Was never designed for hybrid and multi-cloud cybersecurity
Is a single point-of-entry that can lead to holistic network compromise
Relies on physical router boxes, adding unnecessary potential points of failure

We’ve had surveys professionally conducted by 3rd party organizations to get a pulse on the industry’s feelings towards the technology as well, and they’ve confirmed a growing trend of IT pros looking for cybersecurity alternatives to VPN.

However, the reality for many organizations that haven’t experienced a catastrophic breach of their own (that they know of) is that VPN is “good enough” right now. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” comes to mind as a common mantra. However unfortunate, this mentality is understandable, especially when talking about replacing something as fundamental as network security infrastructure. IT decision makers are programmed to greet any cybersecurity project with skepticism surrounding implementation complexity, and the associated price tag.

There is a difference in attitude for a company forced to acknowledge the vulnerability of its VPN(s) due to a critical breach or other disastrous cybersecurity events. If your current networking technology has been exploited, adopting a new network security solution, regardless of the associated expense, is a no-brainer. For the organizations that have managed to get this far without experiencing a debilitating VPN breach, proactively selling the decision-making hierarchy on a new technology is close to impossible. For those forward-thinking IT pros attempting the feat anyway, we salute you.

DH2i equates these uncompromised VPNs to somewhat of a ticking time bomb in the cybersecurity solution stack. We empathize greatly with IT pros who are caught in the position of recognizing the critical threat that an outdated VPN poses to their organization, but who haven’t been introduced to a solution with the feature set and cost savings potential needed to get traction with organizational decision makers.

Redefining the SDP Paradigm: From Mandatory Cybersecurity Upgrade to Immediate Cost-Savings

We want to provide the IT pros working to inspire proactive cybersecurity investment at their organization with the value story they need to get it done. It’s hard to say anything else about the “invisible” threat of VPN vulnerability that we haven’t already. However, DH2i can also tackle the notion that a network security upgrade is inevitably going to be accompanied by high costs and a high degree of deployment complexity. In this new software-defined cybersecurity era, that is simply not true…

Fast and Easy Implementation on Any Infrastructure

You won’t find a more easily implemented secure networking solution than DxOdyssey Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP). DH2i has maintained a 14-year commitment to creating infrastructure agnostic software solutions, and this SDP solution is no different—easily layering over ANY existing infrastructure.

Implementation is as simple as distributing the lightweight (less than 6MB) install package to the members of your team who you’d like to utilize it, or personally installing on the server hosts you’d like to connect. Installation is completed with just a few clicks on Windows or Linux and takes less than a minute to complete in most cases.

Once DxOdyssey (DxO) has been installed on the desired endpoints, setting up secure zero trust network access (ZTNA) tunnels is a straightforward process as well. Upon completion of this step, you have implemented a fully standalone, software-defined perimeter solution that can replace or enhance any existing networking solution you have in place (like VPN). No infrastructure modifications required, just a fast point-and-click implementation on top of your existing infrastructure—Windows or Linux, any OS, any server, and any cloud.

Eliminate Labor-Intensive Maintenance and Reduce Operating Costs

Implementation of DxOdyssey as your standalone networking solution also leads to an instantaneous simplification in ongoing maintenance. As a software-defined solution, DxO allows you to immediately phase out any of your physical appliances associated with networking technologies like VPN.

This means the always-welcome removal of a potential point of failure within your network infrastructure, but also the elimination of all ongoing maintenance of those physical boxes. This can culminate in a significant reimbursement of cost and labor resources that can be allocated elsewhere to help your organization innovate and optimize other facets of your cybersecurity strategy. In some cases, the cost reduction is even enough to cover the entirety of the cost of DxOdyssey deployment.

Operationally, adopting an SDP approach like DxO helps your organization flex with the ebbs and flows of business more efficiently as well. Standing up new tunnels or decommissioning unneeded connections can be easily accomplished with a few clicks, and it allows your organization to adapt network capacity in real time.

The Biggest Functionality Differentiators of DxOdyssey

Along with a nearly effortless installation and low-to-no additional cost implementation. DxOdyssey packs a punch of powerful differentiators from other SDP solutions on the market. Some of these proprietary features and characteristics include:

All tunnels leverage DH2i’s patented, hybrid TCP-UDP data transport technology which unlocks up to a 40% increase in network throughput performance
Maximum data privacy – All data paths are direct. No “middleman.” Your data is only ever seen by the servers and clients that you specify.
Discreet invisibility with no open ports and full DTLS encryption for uncrackable network data security
Highly available ZTNA tunnels with fully automatic failover in the case of outages

Benefits like highly available network connections cannot go overstated, as this presents a massive advantage over the single point of failure represented by the router in VPN setups.

The added ability of SDP solutions like DxOdyssey to drastically reduce attack surface is an invaluable capability as well. Whereas VPN’s grant access to an entire network (you have access to any listener on the entire target subnet), SDP limits the access to a single application-level connection in which you can access one IP address on a single port only.

The Hurdles Have Been Removed to Proactive Cybersecurity Enhancements

In this 2024 report released by Keeper Security, 73% of over 800 survey respondents report having experienced a cyber-attack that resulted in monetary loss for their organization.

If you’re looking for a superior software-defined perimeter solution to protect you against modern cyber threats and lock down your infrastructure, DxOdyssey is as simple as it gets. Fast and easy implementation without making modifications to your infrastructure, and an immediate cost-savings kickback with the elimination of expensive-to-maintain technologies like VPN.

The traditional hurdles to network security upgrades have been removed because software-defined solutions have ushered in an era of infrastructure-agnostic, deployment simplicity. Your organization can achieve a drastically higher level of security with SDP technology at a low or no net cost increase, so the decision to pursue proactive cybersecurity technology upgrades is an easier decision than it’s ever been.

Reach out to DH2i for a DxOdyssey demo today and we can start working up your organization’s personal TCO and ROI story as we put your company on the path to a more secure future.