ZTNA Emerges as VPN Security Risks Put Federal Networks on Alert

This memorandum-style report assesses moving federal remote access from traditional VPNs to Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). It summarizes VPN security weaknesses (public-facing listening ports, unpatched vulnerabilities, credential theft, and potential for broad lateral movement), explains how ZTNA reduces perimeter exposure through application-specific, outbound micro-tunnels and continuous verification, and warns of ZTNA-specific risks such as control-plane compromise, provider trust, and cryptographic/compatibility and compliance challenges during migration under NIST, EO 14028, and federal guidance.