Monitoring VPN connections and trends

Why it's important when you telecommute

Now that many people are working from home, the usage of virtual private networks (VPNs) has grown exponentially. VPNs provide people who work remotely with protection from hackers by creating a secure connection with another network and encrypting traffic between those two points. Using VPNs, employees who work outside the company network can securely access business applications and collective resources.

However, do you know what your employees are doing after connecting to the VPN? How do you know if a user is using too much bandwidth? Or if they’re connecting to harmful or non-work-related sites? This is where VPN monitoring comes into play.

What is VPN monitoring?

VPN monitoring is the process of keeping an eye on critical metrics to maintain the integrity of the VPN connection and ensure its robustness against attacks. Additionally, VPN monitoring ensures that sensitive data gets transmitted across VPN tunnels without being exploited by intruders.

Ineffective VPN monitoring, or none at all, could lead to unauthorized access into private networks, paving the way for cyberattacks and data theft. Moreover, failure to address impending irregularities in VPN tunnels can lead to suspended connections, which in turn could affect the functioning and productivity of the business.

What should you monitor in a VPN?

Some crucial VPN parameters to monitor in a VPN include:

  • Failed VPN logon trends.
  • Number of VPN users connected.
  • VPN authorization errors.
  • VPN lockout trends.
  • Disconnection trends for VPN users.

Using this data, you can discover hidden anomalous activities or downtime

in your network.

Compromising on VPN monitoring can have many repercussions for a company, ranging from productivity loss and an adverse impact on revenue to jeopardizing confidential data and even causing the loss of loyal customers due to data breaches.

Secure your VPN connections using ManageEngine Log360. This solution automatically collects logs from VPN devices and generates out-of-the-box reports and alerts for Cisco ASA, SonicWall, Fortinet, Huawei, Sophos, and Meraki devices. Log360 also serves as a VPN log analyzer, as its reports help you review VPN user details, audit VPN logins, and analyze trends in login patterns. You can customize reports by applying filters, drill down to the raw logs straight from reports, export or schedule reports as per your needs, and even set up email and SMS alerts if required.

Download Log360 today.