We arent afraid of our competitors. Every VPN has different advantages and users are free to choose the one they find the most appealing. Our product holds a significant market share, and the technological improvements and additions we have planned for the future wont let us lose our customers to our rivals.
Unsurprisingly, VPN usage has surged, and Asia Pacific leads the pack with the highest percent of VPN users at 30%, per GeoSurfOpens a new window . Despite the rise in usage, VPNs, not-a-very modern technology has long been drubbed for leaving gaping holes in enterprise perimeters. It is a known fact that VPN products sometimes have multiple vulnerabilities that if left unpatched, allow malicious actors a backdoor to compromise security.
As the anti-VPN clamor grows, and Zero Trust solutions, the new modern VPN alternativeOpens a new window that offer more authenticated and audited access rise to the fore, we catch up with NordVPN CTO Marijus Briedis to understand the growing competition in the VPN industry, usage trends and entry of competitors like Googles BeyondCorp Remote Access that is raring to give VPN providers a security reality check.
Briedis tells how NordVPN, one of the leading go-to providers of VPN services plans to stave off competition from rivals and why the entry of players helps in broadening the ecosystem. Also, check out how NordVPN is taking concrete steps to strengthen public trust in VPNs and promote privacy globally.
Key takeaways from this interview:
- Best practices for evaluating the right VPNs for businesses
- What makes NordVPN the fastest in the world
- Why it is important to avoid free VPNs due to data sharing practices
Learn More: Expert Tips for Choosing the Right VPN ProductOpens a new window
Heres the edited transcript of the interview with Marijus Briedis:
1. Whats the remote-work model like at NordVPN and how are you working through this?
Remote work isnt news to our company because we have employees in different corners of the world like London, Panama, Berlin, Vilnius, and New York. Fortunately, all our operations can be managed remotely, thus, NordVPN hasnt experienced any issues during these stressful times so far. However, we had to take some extra measures to assure our employees security. Weve been organizing additional remote trainingOpens a new window on cybersecurity, weve increased the frequency of newsletters informing our staff about the current situation, weve been encouraging them to use password managers, file encryption tools, etc.
Currently, the majority of our employees are working from home. However, for those who dont have satisfactory conditions at home, our offices are open. Only 3-4% of our staff decided they feel more comfortable working from the office. Needless to say, everyone is following the appropriate hygiene and sanitation practices.
2. Can you share what is the total addressable market size of Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions?
Some sources claim that the market size of the global Identity and Access ManagementOpens a new window was valued at USD 9.90 billion in 2018. Most likely, the growth will be boosted by government institutions and big organizations increased spending on security solutions to avoid identity theft and to comply with regulations.
However, I believe the growth rate might be even bigger due to the current situation. The global labor market has already been drastically affected by the pandemic and the increasing number of cyberattacks together with authorities attempts to control them will cause many more changes. This global crisis demonstrated that even large corporations with 10,000 employees or more can accommodate only 10% of their staff to work from home.
3. Google recently launched a VPN challenger BeyondCorp, an in-house solution? How does this threaten the VPN vendor ecosystems?
Actually, new players dont threaten the existing ones, they rather contribute to the growth of the VPN industry and make everyone else improve. The bigger number of competitors, the greater cybersecurity awareness they spread among internet users. Big names like Google Opens a new window entering the VPN arena indicates this markets solidity and importance, thus, every player wants to get a piece of it.
Big corporations bring reputation and raise standards. I see the VPN industry only benefiting from it. For example, last year, NordVPN took a step forward and together with like-minded businesses co-founded VPN Trust Initiative as a part of i2Coalition. The members of the initiative seek to strengthen public trust in VPNs and promote privacy globally.
4. What are some of the challenges you see with VPN security today? How does NordVPN address security and DDoS attacks?
Its no secret that even VPNs themselves sometimes get attacked to test their credibility. To find vulnerabilities in VPN security, hackers Opens a new window usually target their third-party server providers that sometimes follow a number of practices that are beyond VPNs control.
NordVPN will be building a network of collocated servers to become more secure. While still located in a datacenter, collocated servers are wholly owned exclusively by NordVPN. A breach caused by a vulnerability left by a third-party server provider would be impossible. At the same time, weve been upgrading our entire infrastructure of over 5500 servers to discless RAM servers. This allows us to create a centrally controlled network where nothing is stored locally.
5. How many enterprise customers are using NordVPN? Has usage peaked in the mid-market segment?
Our business VPN solution NordVPN Teams has over 13,000 enterprise customers. The technology, which has been introduced to the public only last year, is most popular among SMBs as smaller companies are less prepared for cyber threats and VPNs are one of the easier security tools to implement.
When the worldwide pandemic Opens a new window was peaking, our business VPN solution NordVPN Teams saw a 165% usage spike and almost a 600% increase in sales overall. It can be related to companies around the globe, including the ones from the mid-market segment, encouraging their employees to work from home. We expect this trend to continue as we are getting vast amounts of requests for a business VPN.
Learn More: Pandemic and the VPN Industry: Boom Now, Bust Later?Opens a new window
6. A recent report points out Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect and Cisco AnyConnect have seen unique user numbers rise by 94% and 86%, respectively. Can you comment on industry competition and share NordVPN usage numbers?
Number of NordVPN users has been constantly growing since the very beginning in 2012. At the moment, we are one of the leaders in the market with 14 million users in the B2C sector and over 13,000 enterprise users in the B2B sector.
We arent afraid of our competitors. Every VPN has different advantages and users are free to choose the one they find the most appealing. Our product holds a significant market share, and the technological improvements and additions we have planned for the future wont let us lose our customers to our rivals. Instead, were planning to expand.
7. Are VPNs equipped to handle concerns around security, privacy, connectivity, and convenience that IT firms are looking for?
To properly take care of its security and privacy, an IT firm (and any other company) needs a clear and solid cybersecurity strategy to implement and follow consistently. Although a reliable VPN plays an important role in any companys network security, it is only a part of it. An anti-virus, a firewall, software updates, data backups, password managementOpens a new window , employee training, confidential information encryption, and other components altogether can guarantee absolute protection from both inside and outside threats.
8. There are concerns that VPN services located in any of the 14 eyes countries could be forced to share data with governments and the data could, in turn, be shared between Five Eyes, Nine Eyes, or 14 Eyes countries. Do you think foreign governments can use laws to gain access to sensitive commercial data?
Its true that more and more governments wish to control every corner of the internet. Many countries have been discussing various backdoors and you need to have a good knowledge of legislation to understand which surveillance practices are legal and which are not.
9. What are the best practices an organization should consider when evaluating a VPN solution?
Any organization going for a VPN should evaluate their needs, research different providers and determine which service and protocols fit the organizations needs most. Speed, encryption protocols, strict no-logs policy, user friendliness, additional features, number of servers, scalability, payment methods, dedicated support team, location of the provider, third-party authentication there are a lot of different components to consider. A rule of thumb is to avoid free VPNs Opens a new window as theres a chance these might be handing data to third parties.
Learn More: It’s Time to Rethink VPN Service for Post Pandemic WorldOpens a new window
10. Can you tell us how the company’s CyberSec technology protects users from cyber threats and how NordVPN made its solution faster?
CyberSec protects our users from accessing dangerous websites known for hosting malware, spyware, or phishing scams. The technology compares the address of every website a user is about to visit against a vast database of blacklists. If a website contains any such threats, CyberSec reacts immediately and blocks the access.
With CyberSec protection on, our customers are also safer from participating in DDoS attacks. The technology detects and cuts any communication between a device (even if malware has already infected it) and the Command and Control server of the botnet.
Moreover, CyberSec takes care of annoying flashy ads to speed up the browsing experience. It hides unwanted pop-ups, autoplay video ads, and other advertising material to save some mobile data and improve the load speed of a website a user is visiting.
What makes NordVPN the fastest VPN in the world is NordLynx the most significant technological improvement ever introduced to our customers. NordLynx is a next-generation VPN protocol based on WireGuard, which is faster than the current leading VPN protocols, such as OpenVPN and IPSec.
11. Do you think VPNs will continue to be a business imperative post pandemic? What are the must-have features in VPNs every tech buyer should be aware of?
Definitely. I believe that this pandemic has already changed many organizations attitude towards the importance of cybersecurity. For example, nearly 70% of major organizations plan to increase their cybersecurity spendingOpens a new window . Moreover, to some companies remote work might become a new norm as Twitter illustrates.
Some of the must-have VPN features organizations should look for are the following: modern encryption, flexibility, dedicated customer support, high connectivity speeds, and dedicated servers.
About Marijus BriedisOpens a new window : Marijus Briedis is a CTO at NordVPN, a leading VPN service provider. Years of web development and system administration eventually led Marijus to become a VPN industry expert. Besides his passion for everything IT, Marijus is a lifetime learner, discovering the world with a smile and a positive attitude.
About NordVPNOpens a new window : NordVPN is the worlds most advanced VPN service provider, used by over 14 million internet users worldwide. NordVPN provides double VPN encryption, malware blocking, and Onion Over VPN. The product is very user-friendly, offers one of the best prices on the market, has over 5,000 servers in 60 countries worldwide, and is P2P friendly. One of the key features of NordVPN is the zero-log policy. For more information: nordvpn.com.
About Tech TalkOpens a new window : Tech Talk is a Toolbox Interview Series with notable CTOs and senior executives from around the world. Join us to share your insights and research on where technology and data are heading in the future. This interview series focuses on integrated solutions, research and best practices in the day-to-day work of the tech world.
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