OpenVPN Partners with ZEDEDA to Connect and Secure Your Edge Network

OpenVPN is excited to share that we’ve teamed up with ZEDEDA, a provider of edge orchestration and management solutions, to address the complexities of securing Operational Technology (OT). This innovative partnership has created a powerful security solution that integrates content filtering, intrusion detection, and intrusion prevention, enabling organizations to seamlessly deploy and manage a zero-trust secure overlay network and streamline the process of securing distributed edge environments. 

ZEDEDA delivers an open, distributed, and cloud-native solution designed to simplify the management of edge infrastructure. Together, OpenVPN and ZEDEDA have created a partnership that works to deliver a robust solution that simplifies edge network connectivity and security at scale. 

Challenges in edge network security for OT 

Edge network devices are often the entry point into a given network, and OT presents a unique set of challenges. 

As defined by Gartner, “Operational technology (OT) is hardware and software that detects or causes a change, through the direct monitoring and/or control of industrial equipment, assets, processes and events.” 

OT is often ignored as a major threat in cybersecurity, but cyberattacks targeting these systems can potentially cause havoc with the critical national infrastructure (CNI) that relies on them to operate. This can amount to dangerous real-world impacts. In fact, Gartner predicts that operational technology will be weaponized by 2025 to harm or even kill human beings.

“Ensuring secure operational technology (OT) connectivity presents a few unique challenges,” says Rohit Kalbag, VP of Product Marketing for OpenVPN. “First, maintaining legacy hardware for secure connections can be expensive and inflexible, hindering scalability. Second, connecting edge networks with overlapping IP addresses is a complex routing challenge. Finally, the rise of targeted attacks on OT systems necessitates robust defenses that may not be readily available in these environments. These factors create a complex security landscape for critical infrastructure, full of potential entry points that bad actors are waiting to exploit.”

In other words, the stakes have never been higher for businesses that use operational technologies. 

Benefits of the joint OpenVPN and ZEDEDA solution

The OpenVPN and ZEDEDA solution allows for streamlined security and remote management of edge devices and applications, even when operating at a large scale. 

“OpenVPN’s CloudConnexa leverages the OpenVPN tunneling protocol for robust network access alongside a powerful policy engine and incorporates content filtering and IDS/IPS to establish a secure, easily managed overlay network,” says Kalbag. “This allows for easy and fast connection of your edge devices to other private networks and application servers and allows users secure access to the edge network from anywhere. With ZEDEDA's purpose-built orchestration solution for the distributed edge, we can jointly bring CloudConnexa’s modern secure networking capabilities to the vast array of hardware edge devices compatible with ZEDEDA’s technology.”

The joint solution from OpenVPN and ZEDEDA offers a streamlined and cost-effective approach to security, connectivity, and ease of management for edge networks. A few key benefits include:

• Secure networking/ZTNA: Create a dedicated worldwide private overlay network from the edge to the cloud. Use it for remote access, site-to-site, or inter-device communications.
• CyberShield: Protect remote access with an easy-to-use, customizable IDS/IPS and content filtering feature.
• Application-based domain routing: Domain name awareness combined with sophisticated routing logic helps you define routes to connected networks using domain names.
• Full-mesh topology: Gain immediate access to one direct and multiple indirect routes to your applications and devices connected to any of the other PoPs with Worldwide PoPs fully mesh-connected to each other.
• Device identity and access control: Digital certificates identify devices and provide them with persistent IP addresses. Identity-based access control determines who can access what.
• Point-and-click configuration: Use web-based administration and configuration wizards to quickly, easily, and economically connect private networks, devices, and servers.
• Location context: Allow or block connections based on the IP address of the connecting device.
• Device posture: Configure a device posture policy that uses device attributes to evaluate level of security and decide if it is safe to connect.
• Simplified edge management and orchestration: ZEDEDA provides centralized management and orchestration of edge devices, enabling administrators to configure, monitor, and update hardware and applications remotely.

Additionally, the OpenVPN and ZEDEDA partnership offers the ability to effortlessly implement zero trust security policies across a single edge node or an entire fleet of devices. The CloudConnexa Connector installs on edge nodes via the ZEDEDA Marketplace in mere minutes. This edge networking solution is ideal for scenarios like:

• Industrial IoT Deployments: Securely connect edge devices, private data centers, and control systems without the risk of unauthorized access.
• Multiple Networks: Simplify the connection of devices across networks, even when dealing with overlapping IP addresses. This is particularly beneficial for complex network setups or multi-site organizations.
• Persistent IP Addressing for IoT Devices: Enjoy the ability to remotely access and manage your devices using fixed IP addresses, streamlining device management.

Learn more about OpenVPN partnerships

The OpenVPN and ZEDEDA partner solution is now available in the ZEDEDA marketplace. To learn more about how the joint solution from ZEDEDA and OpenVPN can solve your edge infrastructure security challenges, visit ZEDEDA’s site.  

Visit our partners page to learn more about OpenVPN's partners or become a partner.