Perimeter 81 Review - Remote Access Solutions For Companies

Perimeter 81 at a Glance

What Services and Features Does Perimeter 81 Offer 

Perimeter81 offers secure remote connectivity solutions designed for companies that want to secure access to their critical applications via a Software Defined Perimeter (SDP) based system rather than a VPN. Unlike a VPN, an SDP-based solution works by creating a security perimeter around applications rather than at the network level. Perimeter81’s SDP-based access technology also allows administrators to precisely segment access based on user permissions and roles. Versus securing access to a corporate network through a VPN, the SDP-based approach reduces total operating expenditure, allows for user-based permissions, and allows administrators to fine-tune access so that only users that truly need access are permitted to connect to certain company resources.

Cloud Or On-Premises Hosted Gateways

The gateways for securing access can be hosted both in the cloud and on-premises. This is  a useful feature for companies with heightened security and compliance requirements that may need to host all security and access-related technology on prem.

Detection Rates and Reliability 

Perimeter 81 can be used to secure software applications running in the cloud and on premises for remote access. However, it does not contain a scanning functionality. Nevertheless, it is able to protect against and mitigate common network-level threats including DDoS and man in the middle attacks.

Prices, Plans and Value for Money 

Users can subscribe on either monthly or yearly plans. The yearly plans entail a discount of 20%. 

Perimeter 81 offers 2 common tiers, Essentials and Premium, plus an Enterprise tier for large organizations. The Premium tier supports up to 20 protected agentless applications as well as an always on VPN.

Perimeter 81 is actually a very reasonably priced solution when you consider the fact that one gateway could be used by dozens or hundreds of users worldwide. The company has invested heavily in the caliber of its own infrastructure and provides a comprehensive cybersecurity solution for protecting both on premises and cloud-hosted assets.

Ease of Use and Setup

Perimeter81 shifts the burden of administering access systems off individual users and onto centralized IT teams. The main work involved in provisioning the system is for IT teams to set up the gateways necessary to secure remote access. These can be configured both in the cloud and on premises. To make life easier for IT teams, Perimeter 81 has a number of integrations ready to use with major infrastructure providers. These include all 3 major cloud titans (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure) as well as Salesforce and Heroku.

Security

Robust Security

Deploying Perimeter81’s solutions can do a lot more than just secure remote access for offsite staff. The security gateways can also provide security control that prevents network attacks including DDoS, man in the middle, server query, and advanced persistent threat. 

Automated Access

For organizations with large workforces, automation is the logical means of properly implementing remote access policies. Perimeter 81’s solution allows for administrators to set up automatic security politics based on the connecting device type and other user parameters. 

Policy Based Controls

Instead of granting and revoking remote access privilege on an individual basis, Perimeter 81 users can create policies and associate them with groups of users. This accords with cybersecurity best practices and also makes it more streamlined for administrators to roll out permission changes to large groups of users.

Need To Know Access

Traditionally, companies that wanted to enable access to their technologies for offsite workers would do this by setting up VPN connectivity—with firewalls and NACs used to create more detailed restrictions on connecting traffic. Offsite users would connect directly to the company’s servers through an encrypted tunnel so that sensitive company information would remain unreadable anywhere between the 2 connection points.

Software defined perimeters, by contrast, allow administrators to enforce security controls at the software level. Access is granted to specific applications rather than an entire network. Naturally, this makes it easier for security teams to restrict access more tightly. Additionally, under Perimeter 81’s model access is granted on a need to access basis. 

Performance

When connecting through security gateways, latency can be a concern for globally distributed teams. To bring hosted gateways closer to the network edge, Perimeter 81 maintains a worldwide infrastructure network. This results in improved access speeds and faster connectivity.

Perimeter 81 Customer Service

The easiest way to get in touch with Perimeter 81’s support team is by email, although Perimeter 81 offers both in-app chat and phone support also. Email support is offered during office hours for customers on the Essentials tier but those on Premium get priority responses. Phone support is only available for enterprise clients.

Bottom Line

For enterprise scale organizations that need to deploy a secure access solution for a variety of endpoints, Perimeter 81 is an intelligent approach that provides granular application-centric security. The technology is suitable for securing applications hosted in cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.