In today’s increasingly hostile environment, every enterprise, be they big or small, should be concerned about cybersecurity and have access to protection from hackers, scammers, phishers, and all the rest of the host of bad actors who seem to be sprouting up around the world.

Yet time and again, we see small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) left out in the cold, an unaddressed market segment that finds real protection either too expensive or far too complex to adopt. Thus, cybersecurity becomes an “afterthought” or “add when we can” kind of service that leaves SMBs far more vulnerable than the corporate giants — just reading the news every day shows even they aren’t immune to ransomware, intrusions, and data theft.

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Once the staple for securing employees working remotely, VPNs were designed to provide secure access to corporate data and systems for a small percentage of a workforce while the majority worked within traditional office confines. The move to mass remote working brought about by COVID-19 in early 2020 changed things dramatically. Since then, it has become the norm for large numbers of employees to regularly work from home, with many only going to the office sporadically (if at all).

VPNs are insufficient for the remote working and hybrid landscape, and an overreliance on them to secure large numbers of employees working from home poses significant risks. “VPNs originally helped companies manage a few employees or third-party contractors who needed remote access to certain systems while working remotely,” Joseph Carson, chief security scientist and advisory CISO at ThycoticCentrify, tells CSO. He adds that it has also led to negative impacts on employee productivity and user experience, all adding to increased friction.

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