Retire VPN for privileged access without losing control
VPN was built for network reachability, not accountability. Wardengate gives operators and vendors the same front door — identity-bound, approval-gated, and recorded at the session layer.
Before
Standing VPN paths
Network-wide reachability, shared vendor tunnels, weak session proof.
With Wardengate
Gateway
Identity-bound sessions to named targets only.
Retire the tunnel. Keep the choke point.
to first brokered session
Helm or Compose deploy — not a six-month agent rollout
gateway for every protocol
SSH, RDP, databases, and Kubernetes through one policy engine
audit export bundles
Evidence your GRC team can hand to auditors without reconstruction
control plane option
Run on your infrastructure — no mandatory SaaS lock-in
VPN perimeter vs. gateway sessions
Standing VPN paths are the most common bypass for bastions and PAM. Replacing them at the privileged layer closes the gap auditors keep finding.
| Capability | Wardengate | Corporate / vendor VPN |
|---|---|---|
| Access model | Identity-bound sessions to named targets — no network-wide trust | Network perimeter — anyone on the VPN can reach many subnets |
| Third-party access | Time-bound, approval-gated, fully attributed per vendor | Shared VPN credentials or long-lived vendor tunnels |
| Session evidence | Recorded at gateway — keystrokes, screen, and metadata | VPN logs show connect/disconnect, not what happened inside |
| Blast radius | Policy limits each session to approved targets only | Compromised VPN client may reach entire internal network |
| Offboarding | Revoke identity — access stops immediately at the gateway | Rotate VPN certs, hunt shared accounts, audit firewall rules |
| Compliance story | Structured exports mapped to SOC 2 CC6, PCI 10, HIPAA | Correlate VPN logs with tickets and target-side evidence |
When teams switch
Signs you have outgrown VPN for admin access
- Vendors still have standing VPN access months after a project ends.
- Auditors ask what someone did on the network, not just that they connected.
- Incident response cannot quickly isolate which VPN user reached which system.
- Zero Trust initiatives stalled because VPN is still the back door for privileged work.
Frequently asked questions
- Can Wardengate replace VPN entirely?
- For privileged access — SSH, RDP, databases, and Kubernetes — yes. Most teams keep a minimal VPN for general corporate access and route all admin paths through the gateway instead.
- How does vendor access work without VPN?
- Vendors authenticate through your IdP or a Wardengate guest flow, request time-bound access to specific targets, and connect through the gateway. No shared tunnel, no subnet visibility.
VPN still your vendor front door?
Map standing paths to gateway sessions
Bring your VPN inventory and vendor list. We will show what a phased retirement looks like without blocking incident response.