Do you remember what it was like when everyone had desktop computers and data security focused on the best way to physically lock computers to heavy desks? In this article, we’ll review the ways security and access control have changed over the years, highlighting how Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) is poised to provide best-in-class solutions for a world with mobile devices and online services.
Mobile Access v1: Mobile Laptops
In the past, corporate data was hosted on-premises. It was accessed by desktops that were physically connected to the corporate network. Then, laptops emerged as the dominant corporate device, and the Virtual Private Network (VPN) was born.
VPNs provided 3 primary functions:
- They made it possible for laptops to reach corporate services on the Intranet
- They restricted corporate access to Internet-connected laptops
- They helped prevent data loss by encrypting communications and running agents on the laptops that helped contain data
Over time, VPN technology evolved. The criteria that could be used for access control (e.g. require the laptop to be domain-joined) expanded and the technology to prevent data loss matured.
Eventually, new types of VPNs such as SSL VPNs emerged. SSL VPNs enabled app-specific, as opposed to device-wide, access to corporate services from the Internet. This reduced the attack surface and also enabled new scenarios such as accessing corporate services from web browsers running on unmanaged devices.
Mobile Access v2: Smart Mobile Devices
Later, when smart mobile devices arrived in the corporate computing landscape, they needed access to corporate resources, and VPN technology was the tool available to provide that. Mobile devices, primarily connected to the Internet, needed network reachability to corporate services. However, theses always-on devices brought many security concerns from their early general lack of IT controls. This drove demand for complementary technology to the VPNs which would help protect data.
All of this created an opportunity for integrated solutions based on Mobile VPN, Mobile Device Management (MDM), and Mobile Application Management (MAM). The management system would provision a VPN profile to a mobile device and thereby give it controlled access to corporate services on the Intranet. MDM and MAM features would help provide data protection on mobile devices analogously to the agents deployed by VPN clients on laptops.
Over time, Mobile VPNs emerged into per-app Mobile VPNs. The per-app variety provided similar benefits to mobile devices that SSL VPNs had provided to mobile laptops in the past. They reduced the attack surface and enabled new scenarios.
Read the rest @ Technet here > https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/microsoftintune/2016/04/11/the-evolution-of-access-control-from-vpn-to-identity-based-anywhere-access/
