Survey: Users say remote access security is too weak

By Tim Greene
Network World VPNs Newsletter, 07/15/04

Apparently, a significant number of potential VPN users think the technology isn't secure enough to protect corporate data.
The 240 network managers who participated in an Infonetics Research study rank security as their top concern, and a third of them say that security is a barrier to implementing VPNs, indicating they don't think remote access security is strong enough.
Interesting, considering that IPSec VPN security supports Triple-DES and AES - the federal government's favored standards - Secure Sockets Layer encryption is used for virtually all online transactions.
The study, called "User Plans for VPN products and Services, North America 2004," also indicates that overall, use of remote access VPNs and SSL remote access is still growing and that by 2006, 70% of these users will rely on either one of these technologies.
Of these mobile users, 13% already use Wi-Fi hot spot Internet access to connect to corporate networks and that will increase to 27% in 2006, the study says. While the study doesn't address it, this could encourage continued use of VPNs as a means of securing connections between wireless laptops and corporate networks in order to make up for any shortcomings or perceived shortcomings in wireless security.
One indicator that a technology is valuable to businesses is their willingness to pay to make it perform at its optimum level, and that willingness seems to be present among VPN users. The survey says about half of respondents are willing to spring for broadband VPN connections and pay extra to guarantee quality of service for real-time applications.