Google has announced the launch of a zero-trust remote-access service designed to give remote teams access to their companies’ internal web-based applications without needing a VPN. Known as BeyondCorp Remote Access, the subscription-based service will be included in Google Cloud's portfolio. Google’s goal is to help keep companies forced to work remotely from overburdening their VPN infrastructures.
For now, the BeyondCorp Remote Access platform can only enforce access controls for web-based applications. For companies, this means they must connect their previously internal web-based apps to Google Cloud. Fortunately, Google plans to expand this technology in the future.
“This cloud solution — based on the zero trust approach we’ve used internally for almost a decade — lets your employees and extended workforce access internal web apps from virtually any device, anywhere, without a traditional remote-access VPN,” Google Cloud leaders Sunil Potti and Sampath Srinivas explained in the announcement.
“Over time, we plan to offer the same capability, control, and additional protections for virtually any application or resource a user needs to access.”
Currently, the BeyondCorp Remote Access platform leverages signals and metadata collected through the browser or an optional endpoint agent to establish user identity and determine the device’s secureness. For improved accuracy, IT teams can also ask employees to install the endpoint agent directly.
Google based the components of this remote-access solution on its experience implementing the BeyondCorp model in its offices. Further, many Google Cloud customers have already implemented BeyondCorp Remote Access within their organizations.
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Colin Ahern, deputy CISO at New York City Cyber Command and BeyondCorp user had this to share in the company’s recent announcement, "We are responsible for leading the cyber defense of America’s largest city. It is vital that our Agency personnel are able to access critical applications no matter the situation or location. Google's BeyondCorp has allowed us to build a zero-trust environment where our team can quickly and securely access essential resources from untrusted networks."
