What is a cloud VPN?
A cloud VPN or virtual private network is a technology created to help users access their organization’s data, applications, and files via a website or an application. Organizations or enterprises host a VPN endpoint on the network, and all the outside workers can establish a secure link to this point and use the cloud resources and applications on the corporate network.
Key Takeaways
- Cloud-First Access: Cloud VPNs replace traditional hardware-based remote access, allowing secure connections directly to cloud-hosted applications and data.
- Enhanced Performance: By providing direct access to the cloud, these VPNs reduce network latency compared to traditional setups that route traffic through a central office.
- Robust Security: Solutions utilize IPsec encryption tunnels combined with modern authentication like SSO, biometrics, and 2FA.
- Scalability & Reliability: Cloud-based models offer 99.9% service availability (SLA) and can easily scale bandwidth to meet fluctuating user demands.
Previously when an employee was working outside, they would use a remote VPN to access the services and information required to work from their organization’s servers.
However, with a rapid shift from remote access VPN to the cloud, the need to connect to servers is useless. Instead, users can now securely access data and applications based on the cloud. This access method is very convenient, making a company’s architecture more scalable, flexible, and agile.
What does a cloud VPN offer?
A cloud virtual private network offers its users a wide range of benefits, such as:
Global VPN access
Cloud VPN services are accessible to users worldwide, allowing them to use data and files no matter where they are. The cloud VPN server makes secure services available to employees via the public internet through a cloud platform.
Better user experience
Since cloud VPN services enable people to share and transfer data and files from any private network without time and place limitations, it makes it very desirable. The cloud platform gives the user an exceptional experience because they can access and use the resources and the network, similar to someone sitting in the office.
Direct cloud access
Legacy VPNs hair-pin every packet through a central datacenter, which can slow down cloud traffic and create more points of failure. A Cloud VPN skips that detour. It links your site directly to a VPC, giving users faster, more reliable access to files and SaaS workloads.
Greater flexibility
Traditional VPNs can be complicated to configure and set up as they slowly adapt to changing network requirements and architecture. A cloud-based VPN is managed and provided by a cloud VPN service provider that offers superb usability and flexibility.
Improved scalability
Conventional hardware VPNs have limited bandwidth or connections that they can support. It dramatically decreases or limits their ability to scale and meet the increasing demands of users. Cloud VPN solutions have greater scalability, enabling the enterprise to decrease or increase the bandwidth of the VPN users.
Mobile support
It is commonly noted that enterprise VPN software is generally difficult to use on computer and mobile devices, mainly used by teleworkers. Cloud-based VPN, like any cloud-based solution, can exclusively include mobile support to provide further usability for off-site workers.
Cloud VPN functions
Cloud VPN solutions enable enterprises to strengthen networks on the public cloud with security compliance and accessibility.
Provides security
Cloud VPN uses IPsec to create an encrypted tunnel between your on-premises network and a cloud-hosted VPC. That tunnel shields every packet in transit so it can’t be read or changed as it crosses the public internet.
This function of cloud VPN is crucial for corporations because it protects a company’s communications and other sensitive data from any potential breach. VPN tunnel acts as a private gateway from an endpoint to your network. If cybercriminals get a piece of your data, it will not make sense because it is entirely encrypted. Keep in mind that Cloud VPN is built for private-network-to-private-network traffic—not for routing users to the public internet.
User verification
Private gateway and encryption can protect data from the threats of the internet. However, the data is always at risk if no proper system verifies users accessing the network.
Cloud VPN solutions give users the latest technology for verification that is very effective. Now corporations can easily verify users before giving them access to the network with methods such as SSO, biometrics, and 2FA.
Types of cloud VPNs
There are two classifications of widely used types of cloud VPN models.
HA VPNs
This high-availability option links your VPC network to your on-premises environment over IPsec and delivers a 99.99% SLA when configured correctly. It uses dynamic BGP routing only and is designed for four-nines uptime.
Classic VPNs
Classic VPNs use a single external IP address and a single interface. They support only static (policy- or route-based) tunnels and do not allow two tunnels to the same peer. Like cloud HA VPN, classic VPN also gives an SLA of 99.9% service availability.
VPN configurations
Two VPN configurations are used to deploy Virtual Private Networks over public networks, i.e., Site to site VPN and site-to-cloud configuration.
Site-to-site VPN
This configuration lets information be sent safely across many LANs or local area networks to many office networks. The site-to-site VPN configuration routes packets over a safe VPN tunnel between devices or routers. Resultantly two private sites or networks can share information across an unsafe network.
Site-to-site VPN enhances scalability and flexibility because the VPN gateway has only the duty to support the functionality of IPsec. This dramatically decreases management costs and installation, enhances processing speed, and frees up memory consumption. On the flip side, it increases the utilization of computing power, which can significantly reduce communication speed.
Site-to-cloud VPN
This configuration is also called a secure client-to-gateway connection. Using this configuration, an applying client can access sensitive data of an organization’s local area network from a remote location. A site-to-cloud VPN is a secure option that enables users to securely enter corporate resources and networks from a remote area, regardless of location.
In this case, the user must connect to the VPN to access the LAN. It is managed by configuring a computer operating system or a router. Usually, site-to-cloud VPN configurations are used by extranet VPNs or access VPNs. It ensures users can get secure network access while working from home or traveling. Therefore, it also eliminates the need for a fixed job in an office.
Cloud VPN topologies
Cloud VPN has three topologies that relate to HA VPN.
- 2 Peer VPN Devices: Links a gateway to two peer devices with individual IP addresses; ideal for redundancy and maintenance without downtime.
- 1 Peer VPN Device (2 IPs): A single peer device with two IP addresses connects to one gateway using two separate tunnels.
- 1 Peer VPN Device (1 IP): A single peer device with one IP address connects to the gateway using two tunnels for the same external IP.
FAQs
What is a cloud VPN?
A cloud VPN is a service that creates a secure, encrypted connection between remote users or branch offices and cloud-hosted resources, allowing data to travel through an encrypted tunnel without exposing it to eavesdroppers.
How does a cloud VPN work?
- You authenticate to the VPN service (for example, with SSO and/or 2FA).
- The VPN client or gateway establishes an encrypted tunnel (typically IPsec) to the cloud VPN endpoint.
- Your access is verified against your organization’s identity and security policies before traffic is allowed.
- Approved traffic flows securely to cloud resources (such as a VPC), and the tunnel closes automatically when you disconnect.
Is using a cloud VPN legal?
In most countries, using a cloud VPN is legal for business security and remote access. Some regions restrict or heavily regulate VPN use (for example, China, Russia, Iran, and the UAE), so you should check local laws and your organization’s compliance requirements before deploying one.
Can law enforcement see through a cloud VPN?
A cloud VPN encrypts traffic in transit, but it doesn’t make you anonymous. Your VPN provider can still see connection details (and may keep logs), and the services you connect to can still see your activity once it reaches them. Treat a cloud VPN as a security control for private connectivity—not a guarantee of anonymity.
Conclusion
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, enterprises saw a dramatic rise in remote workers, and telework has driven the limitations of static VPNs. Most organizations found that their VPN solutions were not up to par with meeting the requirements of most of the remote workforce. As a result, hardware VPN appliances were overwhelmed, and the incapable routing of cloud traffic through the primary network increased the latency of the network.
As organizations rapidly move their infrastructure to the cloud, changing their VPN to cloud VPN solutions is only suitable. Unlike static or traditional VPNs, a cloud VPN gives its users a stable connection that can rapidly deploy worldwide.
