But this isn’t just a SonicWall story. It’s a cautionary tale for anyone still depending on traditional VPNs.
1. VPNs Were Never Built for Today’s Reality
When VPNs were first adopted, the world looked different: most employees sat behind a corporate firewall, applications lived in a datacenter, and remote users were the exception. VPNs made sense.
Fast-forward to today: hybrid workforces, multi-cloud adoption, third-party access, and nonstop ransomware campaigns. VPNs were stretched far beyond their design — and attackers noticed.
2. Patching Isn’t a Sustainable Security Strategy
The SonicWall saga revealed how dependent VPNs are on constant patch cycles. New CVEs often resulted in a significant effort to patch, test, and redeploy. For many IT teams, that meant nights and weekends spent firefighting. Worse, in the window between disclosure and patching, attackers had free rein.
Lesson learned: if your security depends on racing to patch faster than attackers can exploit, the deck is stacked against you.
3. End-of-Life Creates End-of-Support Risk
SonicWall’s VPN EOL announcements underscored another uncomfortable reality: legacy infrastructure won’t be supported forever. When critical systems hit EOL, organizations are left with shrinking support options, rising maintenance costs, and increased exposure.
Lesson learned: waiting until the last moment to replace EOL tech leaves businesses vulnerable. Planning modernization before deadlines hit is critical.
4. Zero Trust Is the Natural Evolution
The bigger picture? VPNs have an inherent flaw: once connected, users often gain broad network access, making lateral movement trivial for attackers. That’s why security frameworks from NIST, CISA, and global regulators all point to Zero Trust as the way forward.
AppGate ZTNA delivers on this promise:
- Identity-based access: Users only connect to what they’re authorized for, nothing more.
- Reduced attack surface: Resources are invisible until authenticated and authorized.
- Adaptive security: Policies update dynamically as user context changes.
- Simplified operations: No more endless patch cycles or EOL fire drills.
5. Modernization Is About Resilience, Not Replacement
The lesson isn’t “VPNs are bad, SonicWall worse.” The lesson is this: relying on yesterday’s technology to secure today’s business is a recipe for risk. Modernization isn’t about swapping logos on a product list. It’s about building resilience into your security strategy.
The Takeaway
The SonicWall VPN fiasco showed us that legacy remote access solutions can’t keep up — and the cost of waiting too long to modernize is high. Organizations that proactively move to Zero Trust Network Access position themselves for resilience, compliance, and peace of mind. Ready to move beyond VPN? Explore our VPN Replacement Toolkit and start your Zero Trust journey.