Many people believe that using a VPN is sufficient for secure and private browsing. In fact, many businesses, especially startups and SMBs, rely on VPNs to grant employees access to critical resources. But is such a heavy dependence on VPNs healthy for your organization’s security posture? While VPNs do provide some privacy and security advantages, they also come with several risks. Here are the top 10 VPN security risks you should be aware of.
Top VPN Security Risk for Companies
Deploying an enterprise VPN is a significant decision, requiring substantial investment and changes to your IT infrastructure. Before using a VPN to provide secure access for your team, it’s essential to understand the potential VPN security risks involved.
1. Weak Encryption and Configuration Errors
VPN Risk: Some VPNs use outdated or weak encryption algorithms, which can be easily broken by attackers. Misconfigurations on the VPN server, such as improper routing rules, or incorrect access controls, can expose the internal network to vulnerabilities. This compromises the security of the data being transmitted.
Impact: If an attacker gains control of the VPN server, they could intercept, decrypt, and manipulate the traffic passing through it. They could also use the server to launch attacks on other internal network resources, leading to a full-scale breach of the company’s systems.
Mitigation: Either use context-aware access technology as a VPN replacement to avoid these risks or ensure the VPN uses strong encryption protocols like AES-256 and modern tunneling protocols such as OpenVPN, WireGuard, or IKEv2/IPsec.
2. Jurisdictional Risks
VPN Risk: The legal jurisdiction where a VPN provider is based can affect how your data is handled and protected. Some countries have laws requiring VPN providers to share data with the government.
Impact: Your organization’s private data such as trade secrets, strategies, and technical know-how could be subject to government surveillance or be handed over to authorities without your knowledge.
Mitigation: Instead of using a VPN, use tools like Pomerium which is self-hosted and enables clientless access without tunneling. Even in the event of a request to share data from relevant authorities, Pomerium does not capture any network traffic information or data.
3. Centralized Access
VPN Risk: A VPN server acts as a centralized gateway through which all remote employees access the company’s internal network. If this server is compromised, it can grant attackers access to the entire network.
Impact: Unauthorized access to critical company resources, potentially leading to data breaches, loss of intellectual property, and disruption of business operations.
Mitigation: Implement strict access controls, use multi-factor authentication (MFA), and regularly update and patch the VPN server. Additionally, segmenting network access should be considered to limit damage in case of a breach.
4. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks
VPN Risk: The VPN server is a single access point for all remote users, making it a prime target for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that can overwhelm the server with traffic, rendering it unavailable.
Impact: Remote employees could lose access to the network, leading to significant downtime, disrupted business operations, and potential financial losses.
Mitigation: Implement DDoS protection mechanisms, such as rate limiting and traffic filtering. Consider deploying a distributed architecture with multiple VPN servers to balance the load and ensure continuity during an attack.
5. Limited Visibility for Security Teams
VPN Risk: VPNs can encrypt and obscure network traffic, reducing the visibility of security teams into the activities of remote users and making it harder to detect malicious actions or policy violations.
Impact: Potential threats, such as data exfiltration or unauthorized access, could go undetected, increasing the risk of a successful cyberattack.
Mitigation: Deploy network monitoring tools that can analyze encrypted traffic without compromising privacy, and ensure that logging and alerting mechanisms are in place for all VPN activities. Consider complementing VPN usage with endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions for enhanced visibility.
6. Malware Propagation
VPN Risk: An infected device connected to the company’s network via a VPN can spread malware across the internal network, bypassing perimeter defenses.
Impact: Malware could proliferate within the corporate environment, leading to data loss, corruption of files, and potential compromise of sensitive systems.
Mitigation: Enforce strict endpoint security measures, such as antivirus software and regular patching. Implement network segmentation to limit the spread of malware, and consider using advanced threat detection tools to monitor for suspicious activities.
7. Voluntary Disconnection Due to Latency
VPN Risk: High latency or bandwidth limitations in VPN connections can degrade overall performance, leading users to experience slow connections, dropped sessions, or unresponsive applications.
Impact: Employees might bypass the VPN for convenience, exposing sensitive data to unsecured networks and increasing the risk of security breaches.
Mitigation: Either implement VPN alternative technology like context-aware proxy for a faster and more secure connection or invest in high-performance VPN infrastructure, regularly monitor and optimize bandwidth usage, and educate employees on the importance of using the VPN for all work-related activities. Consider implementing QoS (Quality of Service) policies to prioritize critical business traffic.
VPN Security Risk for Individuals
If you’re an individual using a VPN for personal use, these are the VPN security risks you should be aware of.
8. Logging Policies
Risk: Some VPN providers keep logs of user activities, such as websites visited, connection timestamps, and bandwidth usage.
Impact: If these logs are stored or shared with third parties, it can lead to privacy breaches or legal issues, especially in jurisdictions with strict data retention laws.
Mitigation: Choose a VPN provider with a strict no-logs policy that has been independently audited.
9. DNS Leaks and IP Leaks
Risk: DNS requests can leak outside the VPN tunnel, exposing the user's browsing activities to their ISP or other third parties. In the same way, Sometimes, a VPN can fail to mask your real IP address, especially during reconnections or when switching networks, leading to an IP leak.
Impact: DNS and IP leaks can reveal the websites you visit, negating the privacy benefits of using a VPN.
Mitigation: Regularly use free IP leak tools and DSN leak checkers to test for leaks. Also, opt for VPNs with built-in kill switches that automatically disconnect the internet if the VPN connection drops.
10. Untrustable VPN Software
Risk: Some VPN clients may have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers to gain control of your device or intercept data. Plus, not all VPN providers are trustworthy; some free or low-cost VPNs may be operated by malicious entities that track and sell user data.
Impact: Exploited vulnerabilities can lead to data breaches, malware infections, or system compromise. If the VPN provider is not trustworthy, your data and browsing history could be sold to advertisers, or worse, fall into the hands of cybercriminals.
Mitigation: Regularly update your VPN software and choose reputable providers known for prompt security patches. Avoid free VPNs as they often monetize through data collection.
Conclusion
Understanding these VPN security risks is crucial in making an informed decision when choosing and using a VPN service, ensuring that your online privacy and security are not inadvertently compromised. Moreover, you can choose VPN alternatives like Pomerium to mitigate these risks and get a faster connection while improving your security posture for your remote team or just for personal use.
