Virtual private networks (VPNs) are the new trend amongst cybercriminals. Cybercriminals are increasingly using VPNs to access data from large as well as small firms.
This groundbreaking discovery was brought forward by the cyber security researcher at ZScaler.
Just recently, news came forward about security patches of Cisco, which showed some of the greatest vulnerabilities. These include RCE attacks and Denial of Services in VPN routers.
VPN is the most dangerous tool ever since the shift of work to hybrid and remote environments. Simple exploitation of a VPN gives the hacker as much power to launch ransomware, phishing attacks, and Denial of Services. When there are 500 known VPN vulnerabilities, and thousands more that could be undiscovered, we should think twice before enabling any VPN.
There have been numerous instances of VPNs being the demise of big names. For instance, recently, 18GB worth of connection logs were made accessible to the public by BeanVPN apps.
Another example is the 5.7 billion entries outed through a Chinese VPN network. One instance that was different than the others is the Uber security breach where one employee accidentally gave up access to all of the internal systems.
The last one emphasized the importance of having just one infected device that will give way to cybercriminals launching their programs. To confirm these statistics, cybersecurity firm Zscaler has noticed a 44% increase in exploitation ever since remote and hybrid environments have been adopted. So how to overcome this?
Cyber security professionals swear by VPN networks that have a highly systematic approach. They consider VPNs that require employees and third-party access to the corporate network. They require a high cost of security and infrastructure and a lack of visibility into user activity as well.
The risk of such attacks increases in larger organizations. These companies tend to provide secure VPN access to their employees. This means they are well aware of third-party connections. However, with companies with more than 2000 employees, with secure VPN access to customers as well, the risk just keeps increasing.
The risk is even greater in multinational companies where security systems are spread across the globe. To overcome such risks, organizations are actively adopting the zero-trust model. As for those that are not, it is better to thoroughly research the VPN you plan on using before going for just any single one.
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Source: https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2022/10/according-to-latest-survey-vpns-are-new.html
