Legacy networking and security approaches fail the needs of today’s hybrid workforce. Connecting users to private apps shouldn’t be slow, complicated, or risky. Hybrid work and cloud transformation have upended perimeter-based network security models, with private applications moving to the cloud, and users accessing applications over the public internet, on any device, from any location. Traditional approaches that rely on legacy VPNs and firewalls to control application access have become ineffective in the cloud and mobile-first world.
¶ What is ZTNA?
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is the modern remote access solution built on the principle of Zero Trust. ZTNA provides streamlined and secure access to private resources hosted on-prem, in data centers and public cloud environments. Authenticated users gain direct access only to authorized applications, not the underlying network.
¶ Exium Secure Private Access (SPA)
Exium Secure Private Access ensures zero trust security for remote employees connecting to your internal network from any device, at any time, and from anywhere.
Even with the trend toward higher cloud and SaaS adoption, organizations still have a variety of private applications that need the same level of secure and reliable access control. Regardless of whether these applications are hosted in the data center or at a third-party cloud provider, many of the same cybersecurity threats exist since employees are still connecting through a variety of personal and company-issued devices.
Traditional virtual private network (VPN) solutions lack the granular access control required for a zero-trust security model. VPNs, for example, have no way of knowing whether the device authenticating to the network is in the hands of the right individual. Stolen credentials can grant access to the network and deliver a malicious payload weeks and months before ever being noticed. This can easily compromise the entire business.
Exium SPA overcomes this by providing Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities to provide secure remote access to internal private applications, regardless of whether they are hosted by a public cloud service provider or in your organization’s private data center.
With all traffic directed through a fully encrypted tunnel, your private applications are never exposed to the public internet. This, combined with its granular zero trust capabilities, ensures a higher level of security for remote employees connecting to your internal private network.
¶ How SPA Works?
Adjacent to the internal applications running in a public cloud, data center, or on-premise server, SPA places a small piece of software called Cyber Gateway (CGW), deployed as a container or a VM, which is used to extend a highly secure Zero Trust Path out to the Intelligent Cybersecurity Mesh.
The CGW establishes an outbound connection, and does not receive any inbound connection requests, thereby preventing DDoS and other cyberattacks. Private Access utilizes a lightweight Exium Client installed on a Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, iOS, Android or a Linux device. The Exium Client steers Private Access application traffic to the Exium Intelligent Cybersecurity Mesh using a Wireguard tunnel.
A Mesh Cybernode approves access and stitches together the user-to-application session. SPA is 100 percent software defined, so it requires no appliances and allows users to benefit from the cloud and mobility while maintaining the security of their applications.
SPA provides zero trust, secure remote access to internal applications running on-prem, in public cloud environments, or private data centers, reducing risk and simplifying security operations. With SPA, applications are never exposed to the internet, making them inaccessible to unauthorized users.
¶ ZTNA Benefits and Capabilities
| No |
Key benefits of ZTNA |
|---|---|
| 1 | Zero Trust Access: ZTNA provides access to private applications, not the network. With granular application-level access control policies, trust is granted based on user identity, group membership, and the security posture of the devices. |
| 2 | Reduce Attack Surface: Minimize the attack surface and eliminate lateral movement by making applications invisible to attackers and unauthorized users while enforcing least-privileged access. |
| 3 | Enforce least-privileged access: Application access is determined by identity and context— not an IP address—and users are never put on the network for access |
| 4 | Enhanced User Experience: Connecting users directly to private apps eliminates slow, costly backhauling over legacy VPNs while continuously monitoring and proactively resolving user-experience issues. |
| 5 | Boost hybrid workforce productivity: Fast, seamless access to private apps whether you’re at home, in the office, or anywhere. |
¶ Top Use Cases of Secure Private Access
SPA applies the principles of least privilege to give users secure, direct connectivity to private applications running on-prem or in the public cloud while eliminating unauthorized access and lateral movement. As a cloud-native service built on a holistic secure access services edge (SASE) framework, SPA can be deployed in a matter of minutes to replace legacy VPNs and remote access tools.
SPA gives Workspace admins control over applications and the users authorized to access them. Workspace admins create and manage policies for users, user groups, applications, and application groups within Exium Admin Console.
SPA allows an organization to phase out legacy VPN hardware, and move towards a more secure, cloud-first, remote access architecture. End the high capital investment, refresh cycles, and ongoing management costs of VPN appliances. SPA drastically reduces the complexity of network and security architectures, accelerating cloud adoption. With SPA, User access is based on policies created by the workspace admin within the Exium Admin Console resulting in a simple, secure, and effective way to access internal applications.
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No |
Top Use Cases |
How it is done? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Security Transformation | Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) that connects authenticated users to authorized applications, not the underlying network. |
| 2 | Phase out legacy VPN hardware |
Phase out legacy VPN hardware, and move towards a more secure, cloud-first, remote access architecture. End the high capital investment, refresh cycles, and ongoing management costs of VPN appliances.
|
| 3 | Enhanced Digital Experience | Deliver an enhanced digital experience for accessing applications in public clouds, on-prem, and data center environments |
| 4 | Limit Private Apps Exposure |
Provide employees with remote access to apps in the public cloud without needing to expose them publicly
|
| 5 | Support Hybrid Cloud | Deliver a seamless end-user experience for accessing applications in private data centers and public cloud environments. |
| 6 | DevOps Access | Native access to resources hosted in the virtual private cloud (VPC) environments. |
| 7 | M&A Integration | Provide day-one access to internal resources without the complexity of combining networks. |
Secure Private Access (SPA) from Exium provides fast, seamless way of accessing private applications without the clunkiness of VPN infrastructure. SPA is a cloud-based Software Defined Perimeter (SDP) or Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution that is delivered through Exium’s Intelligent Cybersecurity Mesh.
To learn more about implementing SASE for your organization and explore tailored solutions that meet your unique requirements, contact Exium at partners@exium.net for a consultation or demonstration. If you are ready to get started, check out our testing and onboarding process.