What are the most important MPLS VPN security considerations for large enterprises?

1 MPLS VPN security risks

MPLS VPNs rely on the network provider to isolate and route the traffic of different customers or sites. However, this also means that the provider has access to the traffic and can potentially compromise it. Moreover, MPLS VPNs do not encrypt the data by default, so any malicious actor who can intercept the traffic can read or modify it. Furthermore, MPLS VPNs are vulnerable to attacks such as spoofing, denial of service, or unauthorized access, especially if the network provider does not implement proper security measures or policies.

2 MPLS VPN security best practices

To protect your MPLS VPNs from security risks, you should follow some best practices that can enhance your security posture and reduce your attack surface. Encrypting the traffic between sites or data centers with protocols like IPsec, SSL, or TLS can prevent eavesdropping or tampering. Authentication and authorization of users and devices can be done through protocols like RADIUS, TACACS+, or Kerberos, while certificates, tokens, or biometrics can further enhance the authentication process. Monitoring and auditing of traffic, performance, and security events can be done with tools like SNMP, NetFlow, or SIEM. Alerts, logs, or reports can also be used to identify and analyze any potential threats or incidents. All these measures will help you ensure the safety of your MPLS VPNs.

3 MPLS VPN security challenges

While following best practices can improve your MPLS VPN security, you may still face challenges that can affect your security level and performance. Encryption, for example, can add overhead and latency to your traffic, which can impact bandwidth and quality of service. You may need to balance security and performance based on your business needs. Authentication and authorization can increase complexity and cost of management, so you may need to harmonize processes and systems to ensure consistency. Monitoring and auditing can generate a lot of data and noise, so you might need to filter and prioritize data and noise to focus on the most relevant information. Furthermore, you could automate and integrate tools and workflows to improve visibility and response.

4 MPLS VPN security solutions

To securely implement best practices, you may need to use some MPLS VPN security solutions. These solutions include MPLS VPN security gateways, such as Cisco ASR, Juniper SRX, or Fortinet FortiGate; MPLS VPN security services, like AT&T Managed Security Services, Verizon Secure Cloud Interconnect, or CenturyLink Adaptive Network Security; and MPLS VPN security software, like OpenVPN, WireGuard, or Zscaler Private Access. These solutions can encrypt and decrypt your traffic at the edge of your network and the application layer. They can also monitor and audit your traffic and security events on the network provider's side, provide you with reports and alerts, enforce policies and rules, and integrate with existing systems and applications.

5 MPLS VPN security benefits

By applying the best practices, overcoming the challenges, and using the solutions, you can achieve some benefits that can improve your MPLS VPN security and performance. These include data protection that prevents data leakage, theft, or corruption and ensures data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Additionally, network resilience prevents network disruption, degradation, or failure and ensures network reliability, availability, and scalability. Finally, business continuity prevents business interruption, loss, or damage and ensures business productivity, efficiency, and profitability. All of these benefits help to ensure compliance with regulatory and industry standards for data security and privacy while also enabling faster recovery from any network incidents or disasters. Furthermore, this allows businesses to support their growth and innovation more effectively and securely.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?