Remote work changed everything about how businesses think about security. Before hybrid and remote work became standard, most of a company’s data and activity stayed inside a defined physical network. Today, employees log in from home offices, coffee shops, hotel rooms, and everywhere in between.
Virtual private networks — VPNs — became the technology businesses relied on to keep that remote access secure. And for years, if you had a VPN in place, it felt like the problem was solved.
It was not. And recent events have made that very clear.
In June 2026, a critical vulnerability in Check Point’s widely used VPN product was confirmed to be actively exploited in the wild — allowing attackers to completely bypass the password requirement and gain unauthorized network access. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. At least one confirmed case led directly to a ransomware attack.
This is not an isolated incident. VPN security vulnerabilities have become one of the most exploited attack vectors targeting small and mid-sized businesses — and most organizations do not know their exposure until it is too late.
What Is a VPN and Why Do Businesses Use One?
A virtual private network (VPN) creates an encrypted tunnel between a remote device — a laptop, a phone, a home computer — and a company’s internal network. When an employee connects through a VPN, their traffic is routed through that encrypted tunnel, protecting it from interception and making it appear as though the device is physically inside the office network.
For businesses, VPNs serve two primary purposes. They protect the confidentiality of data in transit — so an employee working from a coffee shop is not transmitting sensitive information over an unsecured public network. And they provide access to internal resources — file servers, internal applications, network-connected devices — that would otherwise only be reachable from inside the office.
The problem is that VPNs are internet-facing infrastructure. They have to be — that is what allows remote employees to connect. And internet-facing infrastructure is infrastructure that attackers actively scan, probe, and attempt to compromise around the clock.
Why VPN Security Has Become a Critical SMB Risk
VPNs have become a high-priority target for cybercriminals and nation-state attackers for a straightforward reason: a compromised VPN hands an attacker direct access to the internal network it was designed to protect.
Unlike a compromised email account — which requires additional steps to move through a network — a compromised VPN connection bypasses the perimeter entirely. The attacker is inside. From there, they can move laterally to other systems, access sensitive data, escalate privileges, and deploy ransomware.
Several factors make VPN security especially challenging for SMBs.
Legacy configurations go unreviewed for years. VPN systems are often set up, configured, and then left largely untouched. Legacy protocols, outdated authentication methods, and deprecated settings accumulate over time — and those legacy configurations are often precisely what attackers target. The Check Point vulnerability exploited in June 2026 specifically targeted deployments still using the IKEv1 key exchange protocol, a setting that should have been retired years ago but persisted in many environments.
Vulnerabilities require more than patching. Many VPN vulnerabilities cannot be fully remediated with a software update alone. Configuration changes, protocol migrations, and authentication hardening are also required. Organizations that apply the patch but leave the underlying configuration unchanged may remain vulnerable.
Attackers scan for vulnerable VPNs continuously. Automated scanning tools constantly probe the internet for exposed VPN infrastructure running known-vulnerable versions. The window between a vulnerability being disclosed and active exploitation is often measured in days — sometimes hours. Exploitation of the Check Point flaw began weeks before CISA formally added it to the KEV catalog.
Signs Your VPN Security May Be at Risk
Most organizations do not know their VPN security posture until they are actively under attack or a vendor notifies them of a vulnerability. But there are indicators that your remote access security deserves closer attention.
Your VPN has not been reviewed or audited in more than six months. Your organization is still running older versions of VPN software with known vulnerabilities. Your VPN uses older protocols like IKEv1 rather than current standards like IKEv2. Multi-factor authentication is not required for VPN access. You do not have visibility into VPN login logs or do not review them for anomalous activity. Remote access permissions have not been reviewed — and former employees or vendors may still have active credentials.
Any one of these is worth addressing. More than one represents a significant exposure.
How to Improve Your VPN Security: A Practical Guide for SMBs
VPN security is not a one-time project. It is an ongoing practice. But there are specific steps that dramatically reduce your exposure and should be prioritized.
Patch and update immediately when vulnerabilities are disclosed. Subscribe to security advisories from your VPN vendor and from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. When a critical vulnerability is announced, treat it as an emergency — because attackers are already scanning for vulnerable systems.
Migrate away from legacy protocols. If your VPN is configured to use IKEv1 or other deprecated authentication and encryption protocols, migrating to current standards like IKEv2 with modern cipher suites is not optional — it is essential. Your IT team or security partner can assist with this migration without disrupting remote access.
Require multi-factor authentication for all VPN connections. MFA is one of the most impactful controls available for remote access security. Even if credentials are stolen through a phishing attack or other means, MFA prevents them from being used to establish an unauthorized VPN session.
Enforce least-privilege access. Not every remote user needs access to everything on your internal network. Segmenting access so that remote connections can only reach the specific resources each user needs limits the damage an attacker can do with a compromised session.
Review and audit VPN access regularly. Conduct quarterly reviews of who has VPN access, what they can reach, and whether those permissions are still appropriate. Revoke access for former employees, contractors, and vendors immediately upon departure or contract end.
Monitor VPN login activity for anomalies. Unusual login times, access from unfamiliar geographic locations, or multiple failed authentication attempts followed by a successful login are all indicators worth investigating. Reviewing VPN logs should be a routine part of your security monitoring.
Consider whether a traditional VPN is still the right solution. Many organizations are moving toward Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) — an architecture that verifies every user and device before granting access to specific applications, rather than placing trusted devices on a flat internal network. For growing businesses, this model can offer better security with more granular control. A virtual CISO can help evaluate whether ZTNA makes sense for your organization.
What a Vulnerability Assessment Can Reveal About Your Remote Access Security
Many of the VPN security gaps that get exploited are not exotic or difficult to find. They are legacy configurations, missing patches, and overlooked settings that have been sitting in the environment for months or years.
A vulnerability assessment systematically identifies these exposures before an attacker does. For internet-facing infrastructure like VPN gateways, this type of external assessment is particularly valuable — it evaluates your environment from the same perspective an attacker would use and surfaces the specific issues most likely to be targeted.
For businesses that want to go further, a penetration test actively attempts to exploit identified vulnerabilities to validate what real-world impact a successful attack would have. This provides a much clearer picture of actual risk than a theoretical checklist.
Frequently Asked Questions About VPN Security for Small Businesses
What are the biggest VPN security risks for small businesses?
The most significant risks include unpatched vulnerabilities in VPN software, legacy protocol configurations that create exploitable weaknesses, lack of multi-factor authentication on remote access, overly broad access permissions, and failure to monitor VPN activity for anomalous behavior. Any of these can provide attackers a path into your internal network.
How do VPN vulnerabilities get exploited?
Attackers use automated scanning tools to identify internet-facing VPN infrastructure running vulnerable software versions. Once a vulnerable target is identified, they attempt to exploit the vulnerability to gain unauthorized access — bypassing authentication entirely in some cases, as with the Check Point flaw disclosed in 2026. Exploitation can begin within hours of a vulnerability being publicly disclosed.
Does having a VPN mean my remote access is secure?
Not automatically. A VPN is a component of remote access security — not a complete solution on its own. The security of a VPN depends on how it is configured, whether it is kept patched and updated, whether MFA is required, and how access permissions are managed. An unpatched or misconfigured VPN can actually create risk rather than reducing it.
What is the difference between a VPN and Zero Trust?
A traditional VPN places authenticated users on an internal network where they can typically reach many resources. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) takes a different approach — verifying identity and device health for every access request and granting access only to the specific application or resource needed, not the full network. ZTNA provides more granular control and limits the blast radius of a compromised session.
How often should my business review VPN security?
VPN configurations should be reviewed at least twice a year, and immediately following any disclosed vulnerability affecting your VPN product. Access permissions should be audited quarterly. A formal external vulnerability assessment of your remote access infrastructure at least annually provides an objective picture of your exposure.
What should I do if I think my VPN has been compromised?
Immediately review VPN access logs for unauthorized sessions. Revoke and reset all VPN credentials and initiate a mandatory MFA reset for all users. Isolate any systems that may have been accessed through the compromised connection. Contact your IT provider or security partner immediately and follow your incident response plan. Document all findings for potential insurance and regulatory purposes.
Is my business too small to be targeted through a VPN vulnerability?
No. Attackers do not manually select targets based on size. Automated scanning tools identify all internet-facing systems running vulnerable software, regardless of the organization behind them. Small businesses are just as likely to appear in those scan results as large enterprises — and are often more likely to have unpatched, legacy configurations in place.
Remote access security is not a problem that fixes itself or that you can defer indefinitely. The active exploitation of VPN vulnerabilities is happening right now — and the businesses most at risk are the ones that have not reviewed their remote access posture recently.
If you want to understand where your VPN security stands and what changes would make the most meaningful difference, reach out to the Cyberstone team. We help SMBs identify and close the gaps attackers look for — before they find them first.