Secure Remote Access Explained: Modern Solutions, VPN Alternatives, and Zero Trust Strategies

What Is Secure Remote Access? 

Secure remote access refers to the technologies, controls, and policies that allow users to safely connect to internal resources from outside the corporate network. In other words, when staff, vendors, and other third parties connect to an organization’s network via remote endpoints, secure remote access solutions provide a buffer that minimizes the risk of unauthorized access.  

Why Is Secure Remote Access Important?  

Robust remote access security safeguards the data and resources that are accessible through remote connections, forming a vital part of any organization's cybersecurity strategy. From remote employees to third-party vendors and beyond, any number of external entities may need to connect to an organization’s network to keep business operations humming.  

However, remote connections introduce risks. For example, 30% of breaches included third-party involvement of some sort last year – up 15% from the previous year; in turn, a whopping 92% of organizations are concerned about third parties creating potential backdoors into the network through remote connectivity solutions like VPNs. 

Beyond the obvious need to protect connections, secure remote access also underpins compliance across multiple frameworks: HIPAA, PCI DSS, NIST, DORA, NYDFS, and others all mandate strict access control, segmentation, and monitoring. 

For example, common regulatory requirements related to secure remote access include:  

• Least-privilege access (NIST CSF PR.AC-4, PCI DSS Req. 7) 
• Continuous monitoring and anomaly detection (NIST DE.CM, HIPAA §164.312(b)) 
• Third-party risk management (NYDFS 500.11, DORA Article 26) 

Remote Access Security Solutions: Common Technologies  

Organizations often leverage a suite of layered controls, protocols, and policies to thwart unauthorized access and cyber threats; traditionally, some of the most popular secure remote access solutions include:  

• Virtual Private Network (VPN): VPNs remain central to many teams’ secure remote access strategies because they typically provide a seamless user experience. Remote access VPNs authenticate users and establish a tunnel for traffic, delivering widespread network access to the connected endpoint.   
• Multi Factor Authentication (MFA): By enforcing MFA for remote connections, organizations add another protective layer to the network. Since protocols like RDP are frequently leveraged for remote access, implementing MFA everywhere is key to comprehensive remote access security.  
• Endpoint Security: Tools like antivirus software, firewalls, and more are commonly leveraged to ensure that each device connecting remotely to an organization’s network is safe.  

Now more than ever, effective remote access security requires a multi-layered approach that integrates complementary solutions and advanced authentication mechanisms, as well as continuous monitoring and management of access privileges and user activities. As modern ways of working and cyber threats evolve, traditional secure remote access tools are falling short.  

Secure Remote Access Evolution: Why Traditional Tools Fall Short  

For decades, organizations have largely relied on VPNs for secure remote access by encrypting traffic between a remote device and the company’s environment. Today, VPN shortcomings are increasingly glaring as organizations embrace robust Zero Trust security. In fact, 91% of security leaders express concerns about VPNs leading to a security breach.

Open Ports Leave VPNs Insecure by Default   

Most VPN solutions expose at least one TCP port to the internet, meaning anyone on the internet can try to hack a VPN with known vulnerabilities that aren’t yet patched or unknown vulnerabilities that can’t be patched.  

Considering the inherent riskiness of VPNs, it’s little wonder that recent years have seen a steady rise in sophisticated cyberattacks targeting VPNs for initial access – from Ivanti Connect Secure to Cisco and beyond. And research shows the threat of VPN zero-day vulnerabilities is only accelerating: according to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, zero-day exploits targeting edge devices and VPNs grew almost eightfold in the last year, while 56% of organizations experienced at least one VPN-related cyberattack. 

Absolute Access, Insufficient Visibility  

VPNs generally take an all or nothing approach to remote access – once connected through a VPN, users gain absolute access since solutions typically lack device and user awareness. This hurdle doesn’t just lead to obvious security gaps; it also creates inconsistent security standards for remote and on-prem connections. Aaron Steinke, Head of Infrastructure at La Trobe Financial, said, “Historically, we found that you often end up in a scenario where people have more network access when they’re on the VPN because you can’t categorize them and classify them well enough.”  

Flat Networks Create Remote Access Risks  

The majority of security leaders report lateral movement following VPN-related attacks; in other words, once attackers gain initial network access through VPNs, breach containment presents a challenge for most organizations. This speaks to the interconnected nature of remote access security – even with a solution for protecting north-south traffic, insufficient network segmentation to secure east-west movement leaves organizations exposed.  

The Building Blocks of Modern Secure Remote Access  

To supercharge secure remote access, security teams must first understand the core components of a layered strategy built to overcome legacy shortcomings and effectively protect modern organizations.  

Identity-Based Access Controls with Continuous Verification 

Modern remote access security should start with identity. Access should be determined by who (or what) makes the request and what the identity is authorized to do. Integrating with identity providers (IdPs) allows policies to be tied to verified credentials and real-time risk signals. 

As Chris Boehm, Field CTO at Zero Networks, explains, continuous verification should be based on behavioral and contextual factors: “Continuous verification should not mean more MFA prompts or stricter NAC rules. Those are momentary checks that expire the second access is granted. True continuous verification comes from using behavioral and contextual signals such as process activity, communication patterns, and timing to reassess trust dynamically.”  

Comprehensive Microsegmentation  

Microsegmentation secures all clients, workloads, applications, virtual machines, and operating systems inside isolated segments with individual security perimeters. This prevents unauthorized lateral movement, ensuring that remote connections are not an initial access vector for uncontained security breaches.   

Just-in-Time and Just-Enough Access  

Rather than maintaining always-on access privileges, organizations can grant temporary, scoped access when needed to drastically reduce exposure windows and support widespread enforcement of least-privilege principles. 

Robust Multi Factor Authentication 

A modern secure remote access solution should ideally provide single sign-on (SSO) and multifactor authentication (MFA) that integrate with the existing identity provider. What’s more, just-in-time MFA should be enforced for privileged access across ports and protocols like RDP, SSH, and WinRM.  

Unified Visibility and Control  

Secure access shouldn’t operate in silos. Centralized visibility across remote and on-prem users, devices, and applications provides real-time context for policy enforcement, compliance auditing, and incident response. 

Modern Secure Remote Access Solutions: VPN Alternatives  

As organizations look to evolve remote access security, they’re likely to weigh modern VPN alternatives like:  

• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Provides secure remote access based on granular policies in alignment with the Zero Trust security model and without opening any ports to the internet; ZTNA enforces fine-grained access policies based on user identity, device health, and context.   
• Secure Access Service Edge (SASE): Combines network and security functions like secure web gateways and cloud access security brokers; SASE often incorporates ZTNA as a core component for secure remote access.  
• Software-Defined Perimeter (SDP): Creates encrypted perimeters around specific applications, dynamically granting access to individual resources after authentication and authorization.   

Zero Trust Network Access vs Virtual Private Networks 

According to Gartner, ZTNA solutions are rapidly replacing remote access VPNs; as the majority of organizations report plans to replace their current VPN solution with a ZTNA solution in the near future, ZTNA has arguably become the de facto VPN alternative.    

ZTNA replaces implicit trust with least privilege access controls. Rather than granting sweeping network-level access, ZTNA only provides authorized users with access to specific apps and services based on identity, device posture, and contextual factors. This drastically reduces the attack surface and limits lateral movement.  

Some of the key differences between VPN and ZTNA come down to:  

• Access: While VPNs grant broad network access, ZTNA limits access to specific resources.  
• Port Exposure: VPNs require open ports on the internet, but ZTNA solutions do not, meaning resources remain invisible to unauthorized users.  
• User Experience: VPNs are typically faster (though less secure) while traditional ZTNA solutions may introduce latency as they often rely on cloud-based brokers that route all traffic through proxies.  
• Visibility and Monitoring: VPN solutions offer limited visibility into user actions following connection; ZTNA centralizes logging and policy enforcement. 

Building Zero Trust Remote Access Security  

Zero Trust security requires rigorous access controls and advocates for every access request to be verified as if it originates from an open network, regardless of the user's location or device. To meet Zero Trust standards, a comprehensive secure remote access strategy should combine ZTNA, identity-aligned microsegmentation, and MFA.  

Together, these solutions create a self-defending architecture that protects every dimension of traffic – north-south, east-west, and up-down – that protects against the unique vulnerabilities introduced by remote access. These combined strategies ensure that organizations can maintain tight control over their networks and data, regardless of where access is occurring, and fortify defenses against both internal and external threats. 

The Speed of VPN + Security of ZTNA  

Zero Networks reimagines remote access by combining the security of ZTNA with the speed and simplicity of VPN. Zero temporarily opens ports for authenticated users with just-in-time MFA while keeping the rest of the network invisible, unlocking secure remote access to pre-approved apps and services without latency or excessive permissions.   

By integrating automated, identity-aligned microsegmentation, network-layer MFA, and modern ZTNA in a single platform, Zero Networks offers a comprehensive approach that makes it easy for security teams to enforce least privilege access across every connection. Find out how you can build a radically simple yet comprehensive approach to remote access security – request a demo.