Best RDP & VPN Alternative 2021 Splashtop Remote Access
Splashtop is a High Performance Alternative to Your RDP / VPN Infrastructure
Legacy VPN a Nightmare? Fed-up with RDP? Is It Slow and Costly?
Try Splashtop instead and support the BYOD World
Are you considering Microsoft RDP [Remote Desktop Protocol] over a VPN to enable employee remote access to Windows and Mac computers? Using RDP alone outside the firewall exposes traffic to security risks and can make host computers vulnerable to outside attack so VPN is required. This may seem like an easy or inexpensive choice, but organizations who implement it soon come to realize that this solution is expensive to set up, maintain, hard to scale, cumbersome for employees to use and have lag issues.
Common problems of using legacy remote access means through RDP over a VPN include:
- The BYOD trend poses an increased security risk [60% of employees use a smartphone for work]
- Difficulty setting up, maintaining, and scaling for more users
- Poor user experience with connectivity and lag issues
Splashtop offers a RDP / VPN alternative solution that greatly simplifies remote access setup for IT and easy usability for employees/end-users. Splashtop Business Access supports your business continuity plan [BCP], disaster recovery plan [DR], work-from-home initiative [WFH], pandemic policy, telecommuting, and BYOD initiative, enabling employees to stay safe while being productive from anywhere.
Why is Splashtop a Better Choice than Legacy RDP / VPN?
| Security | ||
| Zero Trust Network Access [ZTNA] | Splashtop Yes [authentication is first established through Splashtop cloud broker, and only after this arms-length authentication is successful, remote user is given access to authorized system]. Gartners June 2019 analysis predicts that by 2023, 60% of enterprises will phase out their remote access VPN in favor of Zero Trust Network Access solutions*. | Traditional VPN / RDP No [too much trust is established between remote device and corporate network, exposing lateral threats, such as ransomware] |
| Two-Factor Authentication [2FA/MFA] | Splashtop Yes | Traditional VPN / RDP Yes, but some MFA features are not free |
| Device Authentication | Splashtop Yes | Traditional VPN / RDP Not available in most VPN solutions |
| Infrastructure Update | Splashtop Yes, automatically updates itself against new threats | Traditional VPN / RDP Manual and risky. Dept of Homeland Security [DHS] warned, As VPNs are 24/7, organizations are less likely to keep them updated with the latest security updates and patches. [March 13, 2020] |
| Software Update | Splashtop Yes, automatic | Traditional VPN / RDP Need to worry about different versions of VPN client and RDP as well as compatibility issues |
| SSO | Splashtop Yes | Traditional VPN / RDP Yes |
| Session recording | Splashtop Yes | Traditional VPN / RDP No |
| Disable / Enable file transfer and remote print | Splashtop Yes | Traditional VPN / RDP No |
| Logging and monitoring | Splashtop Human readable logs | Traditional VPN / RDP Logs are not human friendly |
| User Productivity | ||
| Ease of Use | Splashtop Click & connect fast remote connections | Traditional VPN / RDP No Painful to setup and use VPN and RDP; VPN can take 20+ seconds to connect, and RDP is often slow. |
| Can use personal device, supporting BYOD | Splashtop Yes Can use any personal device including mobile tablets and phones | Traditional VPN / RDP No Need company-issued device to ensure security |
| Performance | Splashtop High performance; 3D CAD / CAM capable; 1080p @ 60fps; 4k @ 30fps | Traditional VPN / RDP Lag & Unable to support 3D CAD / CAM and streaming video & RDP support for MAC is weak |
| Tools/Utilities | Splashtop File transfer, lock keyboard/mouse, chat, etc | Traditional VPN / RDP Limited built-in tools with MS native RDP client |
| Scalability | ||
| On-board thousands of users | Splashtop Quick & easy [both IT deployed and end user self-provision] | Traditional VPN / RDP Long and difficult process for IT |
| Limited by gateway hardware | Splashtop Not applicable; software based | Traditional VPN / RDP VPN CPU/memory can overload and needs to be upgraded |
| Network traffic | Splashtop Corporate access uses corporate bandwidth. Personal browser uses home bandwidth | Traditional VPN / RDP Users often forget they are on VPN and all personal traffic [Youtube] are also routing through corporate network, congesting the network. Disabling split-tunneling reduces productivity; enabling split-tunneling increases risk |
| Any device | Splashtop Just use any personal device, including tablets, smartphones, Chromebook | Traditional VPN / RDP Need company issued devices |
| Set up VPN gateway at each office | Splashtop Not applicable; software based | Traditional VPN / RDP Requires setting up & managing VPN gateway for each office |
| Reliability | ||
| Always updated | Splashtop Yes Splashtop managed updates | Traditional VPN / RDP No always troubleshooting issues, and requires manual updates |
| Consistent tool across platforms | Splashtop Yes Consistent remote access experience across Windows, MAC, and Linux operating systems | Traditional VPN / RDP No RDP is only Windows friendly |
| Cost | Splashtop Cost effective starting at $5 per user per month [volume license discount available | Traditional VPN / RDP Complex & expensive to setup and manage; manual security updates; requires company-issued device; facing constant user support challenges |
| Management | Splashtop Easy user/group management | Traditional VPN / RDP Need to set up VPN user/group management and also RDP user/group management, resulting in redundent work and difficulty to track/manage |
| Conclusion | Splashtop Every user and IT love Splashtop | Traditional VPN / RDP VPN / RDP setup is hassle for IT and users |
RDP & RD Gateway Vulnerability Risks
On November 5, 2019, The FortiGuard Labs team recommends that customers immediately apply the latest patches from Microsoft for CVE-2019-0708 on any affected machines, and where possible, also disable RDP completely. BLUEKEEP RDP ATTACKS ARE STARTING: //www.fortinet.com/blog/threat-research/bluekeep-rdp-attacks-starting-patch-now.html.
On September 27, 2018, The Public Service Annoucement [PSA] warned CYBER ACTORS INCREASINGLY EXPLOIT THE REMOTE DESKTOP PROTOCOL [RDP] TO CONDUCT MALICIOUS ACTIVITY, outlining issues around outdated RDP versions with flawed encryption mechanism, unrestricted access to the default RDP port [TCP 3389] //www.ic3.gov/media/2018/180927.aspx
On January 14, 2020, CERT Coordination Center released Vulnerability Note VU#491944 on MICROSOFT WINDOWS REMOTE DESKTOP GATEWAY [RD Gateway] ALLOWS FOR UNAUTHENTICATED REMOTE CODE EXECUTION: //kb.cert.org/vuls/id/491944/. Microsoft RD Gateway in Windows Server 2012 and later contain two vulnerabilities that can allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. the flaws lie in handling of fragmentation. This vulnerability is exploitable by connecting to the RD Gateway service listening on UDP/3391.
No more Legacy RDP over VPN hassles! Access your desktops, apps, and files with Splashtop.
Splashtop is designed to give users seamless, secure remote access to their computers from any device, embracing BYOD. With its industry leading remote desktop technology running through a secure SSL [AES-256] tunnel, Splashtop allows users to access their PC and Mac desktops via their Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, or Chromebook devices as if they are sitting in front of their computers or servers. You get all the benefits of RDP/VPN without the issues and complexities mentioned above. Also, it takes only minutes to set up.
Give Splashtop a test drive. No credit card or commitment required to get started.
*Source: //www.techradar.com/news/best-remote-desktop-software