We still see this constantly: a company's VPN hasn't changed in five years, but everything else about how people work has. Someone's at home, someone's at a client site, someone's on hotel WiFi, and they all hit the same login screen. Password, sometimes a text code, done.
Here's what that setup actually does, though. It's a building with one locked door and nothing locking the rooms inside it. Get through that door and you can wander anywhere.
Here's the actual danger. Once a password gets stolen, the person using it doesn't look like an intruder, they look like whoever they stole it from. One client had someone inside their network for four days before IT caught it, just quietly working through shared drives the whole time.
Why VPNs Weren't Built for This
That's just not how most NYC companies run anymore. Your files live in Microsoft 365, in AWS, and in half a dozen SaaS tools, not in one room.
Push remote work through an old VPN and a few things go wrong at once.
Access doesn't stop where it should. Log in, and you often get a path to the whole network, not just the one folder you needed. Steal that session, and you've stolen all of it.
Speed takes a hit too. All that remote traffic gets funneled back through one office connection, so a call that should take two seconds takes six, and eventually someone complains.
Then there's the gateway itself, sitting right out on the public internet where anyone can find it. Security researchers have flagged VPN appliances as one of the most exploited entry points of the past few years, largely because scanning bots don't have to work hard to locate them.
Legacy VPN vs. Zero Trust Network Access
| Category | Legacy VPN | Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) |
|---|---|---|
| Core Approach | Trust once verified at login. | Every request gets checked on an ongoing basis. |
| Access Granted | Broad, network-wide. | Limited to the one app or file actually needed. |
| Verification | Password, sometimes MFA, at sign-in. | Identity, device health, and behavior are checked continuously. |
| Exposure | Sits on the public internet. | No direct external IP for scanners to find. |
Getting to Zero Trust
Split Access by Role
An accounting employee should only be able to reach accounting software. Nothing else. If their password leaks, whoever has it still can't touch HR files or customer records, because the system never shows those to that login in the first place.
Keep Checking After Login
A password check at the door isn't enough by itself anymore. Zero Trust tools keep asking questions the whole session: is the device running current security software, is this login coming from somewhere unusual, and does the behavior match how this person normally works? Something looks wrong; access gets cut mid-session if it has to.
Take Away the Front Door
A VPN sits exposed, which is exactly the problem. Swap it for an identity broker, and there's no public entry point left for a bot to find.
What This Actually Means for Your Team
Nobody rips out a VPN in a weekend. Most companies we've worked with move one application at a time, usually starting with whatever holds the most sensitive data, and keep the old VPN running for everything else until it's done.
The point isn't speed. It's not waiting until a stolen password turns into something worse before doing anything about it.
If you're already comparing Managed IT Services New York City providers, or you've got an internal IT person who just needs backup managing the switch, this is the kind of project that goes a lot smoother with someone who's done it before.
A Few Questions We Get About This
Isn't Zero Trust basically the same as antivirus?
Not really. Antivirus is about keeping malware off a single device. Zero Trust decides who and what gets into your network and applications in the first place. A device can be perfectly clean and still be the wrong one to trust with broad access.
Do we need to rip out the whole VPN on day one?
No, and honestly you shouldn't try. Application by application is the normal path, sensitive stuff first.
Will this slow my team down even more?
Probably not. Since traffic isn't all funneled through one central point anymore, a lot of users actually see things speed up.
How do I even know if our current setup is a problem?
Ask this: once someone logs into your VPN, can they see more than the one thing they needed? If yes, that's the exact gap Zero Trust closes.
Thinking about what a Zero Trust switch would actually look like for your setup? Get a quote from B&L PC Solutions and we'll walk through it with you.
Tags: cyber security companies NYC, identity-first security, legacy VPN risks, managed IT services New York City, Managed IT Services NYC, micro-segmentation, network access control, perimeter defense vulnerabilities, remote workforce cybersecurity, Zero Trust Network Access, Zero Trust security NYC
