Google BeyondCorp could replace VPN for businesses

April 24, 2020

With most people working from home there have been a lot of changes for most businesses. One of which is trying to find secure ways to allow employees access to company documents while on their personal devices. One of the solutions businesses have turned to is using VPN’s, which are great for protecting your device while connecting to unsecured network. But implementing new technology is difficult enough without having to do it remotely.

VPN’s have a purpose and they serve it well, but handling a large volume of employees is not one of them. It’s difficult to configure it to allow different levels of access, and they really aren’t built for heavy usage from companies like this. And when users are unfamiliar with VPN’s they can find it difficult to use and navigate.

BeyondCorp is a cloud based product initially designed for in house use for Google, but due to our current situation they have rolled it out to allow businesses to use it.  It’s designed to allow remote access to a variety of users which uses a zero trust approach for added security.

With the increase of remote work it’s become necessary to worry more about security. The pressure for companies to keep their information secure is only growing during this turmoil, so finding new and better solutions to staying safe is a major priority. BeyondCorp is designed to deal with these kinds of scenarios.

 
It starts off with a database with a list of every authorized device allowed to connect, a security certificate has to be installed onto the device, and then the user can log in and access the files they need. No need to walk your users through downloading a new form of software and walk them through using it. This is a big improvement on having to download a VPN application, learn to navigate it in order to gain access to your files, and deal with lag during hours of high volume. 

This solution goes far beyond remote connection, you’re not just replacing a VPN. You are using a solution that is made for remote work and the dangers of it. Your employees working from home may be using their personal devices, but the software is designed to make it more secure than regular remote work. Your employees have to be on the latest operating system, and they have to be using phishing resistant authentication in order to use the  software.

This means that even if their device is compromised hackers would not be able to gain access without the authentication code. Similar how multi factor authentication helps keep our important accounts safe, this will keep your companies information safe.

If you are looking for a solution to remote work for your business you should speak to your IT professional to find the best plan of action for your business.