Are VPNs Still Secure?

A once-reliable tool, now outdated

Accelerated by the pandemic, the shift to remote work has led to an explosion in online applications and encrypted traffic. This sudden surge has placed extra strain on traditional infrastructures. Once considered secure, VPNs have become costly, slow, and vulnerable, struggling to keep pace with today’s realities.

Is there a viable alternative to VPNs?

Yes. A new model enhances data security without adding complexity to your IT architecture.

The Zero Trust approach is gaining traction because it not only strengthens security, but also simplifies IT management and reduces the technological burden created by outdated VPN setups.

The limits of traditional VPNs

VPNs are built on a simple concept: all traffic is routed through an encrypted tunnel to the internal network. But since even connections to cloud apps or public websites must pass through the VPN, it quickly becomes a source of congestion and latency, creating bottlenecks and frustrating users.

When organizations suddenly had to move from on-site to fully remote work, VPNs became saturated within days. The result: slow performance, unstable connections, and weakened security.

To ease the strain, many IT leaders turned to split tunneling, a method where Internet-bound traffic bypasses the VPN while internal traffic remains protected. While this helps reduce congestion, it also limits visibility and control over a large portion of network activity—leaving potential blind spots.

With most Internet traffic now encrypted, traditional VPNs struggle to inspect it properly. This limited visibility means malware and data leaks can go undetected. On top of that, maintaining a multisite VPN infrastructure is expensive. Organizations face recurring subscription fees, additional network gear, and increasing operational complexity for IT teams already stretched thin.

A growing share of Internet traffic is now encrypted, but VPNs don’t always have the ability to inspect it deeply. As a result, cybersecurity teams often lack visibility into potential threats moving across the network, allowing malware or data leaks to go undetected.

Beyond these security gaps, maintaining a multisite VPN infrastructure is costly. Organizations must invest in solutions that mitigate latency and subscribe to expensive monthly plans. The growing number of tools and appliances increases both expenses and operational complexity for IT teams already under pressure.

Zero Trust: built for the cloud era

Unlike VPNs, which assume that anyone inside the network can be trusted, a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) follows a simple rule: never trust by default. Every access request is verified, every session is controlled, and security policies are enforced end-to-end.

Zero Trust is part of a broader cloud-based framework known as SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), which combines security and network performance into a single, unified approach. With SASE, users get secure, high-performance access to applications from anywhere, without the need for complex VPN configurations.

Rather than granting access to an entire network, Zero Trust limits each user to the specific applications and data they need—based on identity, device posture, and context (such as location or risk level). Even if a credential is compromised, the threat remains contained.

Zero Trust also removes the need for split tunneling. All data flows (internal or external, encrypted or not) are inspected in real time, eliminating blind spots and enabling proactive threat detection.

Because it’s built on a distributed, cloud-native architecture, users automatically connect to the nearest access node. This minimizes latency and removes the “backhaul” effect caused by traditional VPNs that route all traffic through headquarters.

Best of all, Zero Trust doesn’t add complexity—it reduces it. It lightens the technology stack with fewer appliances, fewer interconnections, and less manual management. For IT teams, it’s a way to save time, improve visibility, and lower overall costs.