Remote access gateway (VPN): what it is and how it is attacked
The door staff use to reach the internal network from outside.
Also known as
- VPN
- VPN concentrator
- remote access
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It is internet-facing by definition and it leads straight inside, which is why it is a standing target.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Sign-in without a second factor
- Delayed patching of a widely published flaw in the appliance
What reduces it
- A phishing-resistant second factor, since a code or a prompt can be relayed in real time
- Patch appliance software urgently, because flaws in it are used at scale within days of publication
- Remove access when people leave, and reconcile the account list against the staff list
Where it sits
- Group
- Network · The paths traffic travels along.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- vpn-gateway
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Others in network
- The internetWAN · public networkEverything outside your organisation's control.
- Routergateway · layer 3Sends information from one network to another, the way a junction sends cars down different roads.
- Switchlayer 2 · LAN switchConnects the devices inside one building or floor, passing each message only to the machine it is addressed to.
- Address rangeCIDR · subnet · IP rangeA group of numbered addresses on a network, written as a single line such as 192.0.2.0/24 rather than listed one by one.
- Internet network operatorASN · autonomous system · AS number · BGP network · peeringOne organisation's own network on the internet, identified by a number so every other network knows whose it is.
The network group lists all 6 of them side by side.
Remote access gateway on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type VPN. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker