Twenty-five years ago, secure remote access in enterprises relied heavily on VPN connections and one-time password hardware tokens, with RSA SecurID leading the market. At that time, only about 20% of employees in companies using RSA carried key fobs for authentication. Today, secure remote access solutions are far more prevalent, supporting between 15% and 100% of employees across organizations, with a median of 45%. Despite this growth, VPN and multi-factor authentication remain widely used, although their dominance is waning.
The landscape of secure remote access technologies is shifting significantly. Even with a slight reduction in remote work since the pandemic’s peak, the demand for secure remote access remains high. Organizations are deploying a diverse range of technologies, with the number of solutions used varying from one to ten, and a median of six.
Key technologies include traditional VPNs, RADIUS for centralized network service management, Microsoft’s Active Directory for resource organization, and secure web browsers to protect against online threats. Other solutions involve blocking malware and untrusted IP addresses, as well as frameworks like Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and Security Service Edge (SSE) for comprehensive security. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and virtual desktop infrastructures are also gaining traction, among others.
In terms of identity and authentication, organizations use between one and seven solutions, with a median of four. Traditional passwords persist, but there’s a shift toward more secure methods such as password managers, multi-factor authentication, digital certificates, and single sign-on systems. Integration with identity providers and adaptive authentication techniques are also on the rise.
Visual data shows VPN and Active Directory are being phased out, while ZTNA, SSE, SASE, and Desktop-as-a-Service are expanding rapidly. Similarly, despite efforts to move away from passwords, they remain common, while password managers, MFA, and adaptive authentication continue to grow in adoption.
