What is Endpoint Security

Endpoint security is the branch of security engineering that is concerned with controlling threats associated with the remote access computers themselves. While most VPN Tunnels (IPSec, SSL and otherwise) are relatively immune to snooping and data modification, the end computer running the VPN client is often quite insecure, for a variety of reasons, providing the biggest risk to endpoint security.

The risk is substantial: there are a wide variety of threats to endpoint security, and due to the distributed nature of the problems, it can be particularly difficult for IT departments to get a handle on the problem. Furthermore, most IT departments are already heavily loaded with other security-related tasks, and have no time left to make sure that employees' home computers are not vulnerable to an endpoint security attack. The endpoint remains one of the weakest links in overall network security. Consumer operating systems are full of security problems, and end users typically add to the mess with an array of spyware and malware programs. Add to this the fact that VPN tunnels typically terminate inside the corporate firewall, where no additional security checks are applied from that point on, and you have a recipe for an endpoint security breach.

Yes, your users may use encrypted tunnels to communicate with the corporate network, but what's to stop an attacker from breaking into an end user's insecure computer and using that nice, encrypted tunnel to do his worst inside the network? The Positive Networks PositivePRO® VPN Service provides a comprehensive, integrated, managed endpoint security solution for enterprises. PositivePRO VPN addresses areas of endpoint security including antivirus, antispyware, firewall, critical updates, authentication, intrusion detection, and more.

To learn more about endpoint security, please download our whitepaper on "VPN Endpoint Security."