Is RDP Secure Without VPN? Best Practice for Safe Remote Access

Is RDP secure without VPN?

Why Does RDP Security Via VPN Matter?

RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) enables remote access to systems, supports remote work, and facilitates efficient IT management. However, one persistent concern remains: is RDP secure without using a VPN (Virtual Private Network)? No matter what has prompted your question, it is an important one and merits all our attention. Indeed, VPNs are great ways to stay private even over the internet, but, nonetheless, not everyone will choose such an option. So, why is RDP at risk? And what can you do to make it secure without VPN? In this article, we will explore this question thoroughly, examining the risks involved, common misconceptions and actionable best practices to secure RDP without relying on a VPN.

What is RDP?

RDP , or Remote Desktop Protocol, is an integral part of Windows that can be found in most PCs that act as servers (as a general rule: pro editions). Proprietary communication protocol developed by Microsoft, it enables users to access a device from a distance, giving them remote access and control of that device from their local machine.

RDP is built into most professional editions of Windows and is widely used by IT departments, system administrators, and remote workers. It facilitates a wide range of use cases. .

Some purposes of RDP include:

• remote work and remote desktop use in BYOD contexts, remote office and travel;
• application publication to the Web, including legacy apps;
• troubleshooting and technical support by remote IT support teams resolving issues or carrying out maintenance;
• farm and server management and infrastructure maintenance, whether in data centres and cloud environments .

The convenience of RDP also introduces potential risks, especially when it is left exposed to the internet without proper safeguards.

What are VPNs, Their Use with RDP, Issues and Advantages?

What is a VPN?

Virtual Private Networks act like a tunnel for information in transit. Essentially, it encrypts traffic between a user's device and the destination network, thus creating a private line preventing eavesdropping or interception.

Why is RDP often used over VPN?

They are often used in tandem since, when RDP traffic is sent over a VPN, the session benefits from this extra encryption layer. VPNs also limit access to users within the corporate network or those who are authenticated to use it.

What Issues Can a VPN Raise?

What a VPN cannot do is replace strong credentials or strict sign-in settings. Issues such as connection provenance or thresholds for failed-login attempts can render the VPN tunnel ineffective.

Additionally, VPNs come with their own set of challenges:

• Configuration complexity
• Added latency
• Compatibility issues across platforms
• Maintenance overhead
• Potential attack surface if VPN credentials are compromised

Enough to lead organizations to ask: can RDP be used securely without deploying a VPN?

Basics to secure RDP without VPN

What Are the Key Risks of Using RDP Without a VPN?

Before diving into security best practices, it’s important to understand what makes RDP vulnerable without a VPN:

• B Brute-Force Attacks
• Credential Theft
• Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities
• Lack of Access Control

Other than those, securing RDP requires some baseline actions such as strong passwords and related credentials settings. Encryption and certificates are also important, to help guarantee endpoints and communications. Without these, RDP can prove to be too much of an inroad for attacks and other cyber threats. Businesses generally value their data but not all realise the risks that unsecured RDP exposes them to.

What Are the Best Practices to Secure RDP Without VPN?

To secure RDP without a VPN, organizations must adopt a multi-layered security strategy. Below are the core components of this strategy:

• Use strong and unique user credentials and monitor and limit failed login attempts
• Enable Network Level Authentication (NLA)
• Limit RDP Access by IP Address and Geography
• Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
• Use TLS with Valid Certificates
• Keep RDP and Operating System Updated

Use Strong Credentials to Secure RDP and Monitor Logins

There is no doubt why adapted usernames (rather than left as default) are among our top solutions along with strong well-composed passwords or even randomly generated ones. They remain one of the simplest yet most powerful ways to keep any threat out of the system. Whether a password is invented or randomly generated, it locks a system down with sufficiently great effectiveness that makes it paramount as the primary wall of security.

How to Compose Strong and Unique User Credentials

• Use strong, complex passwords for all RDP accounts.
• Avoid using default usernames like “Administrator.”
• Consider implementing username obfuscation by renaming default accounts.
• Limit user privileges.
• Enforce password expiration policies.
• Require a minimum password length (at least 12 characters).
• Use a password manager to maintain credential complexity.

How to Monitor and Limit Failed Login Attempts

Derived from this, you can add lockout policies and configure settings attached to users and sessions such as:

• time-zone restrictions for connections;
• session length timeouts
• temporary lockout of an account and/or IP in response to failed login attempts;
• maximum thresholds for the frequency of consecutive failed attempts (e.g., 3-5);
• logs and alerts for repeated login failures.

Enable Network Level Authentication (NLA)

Enabling NLA is one of the top recommended steps to harden RDP. Network Level Authentication ensures all users must authenticate before a full RDP session is established. This protects the remote system from unauthenticated access and reduces the risk of resource exhaustion from unauthenticated requests.

What Are the Steps to Ensure NLA is Active?

Check that NLA is activated in Windows Settings, Control or Group Policy Editor. For full details of the steps to follow, read our article. dedicated to NLA .

Limit RDP Access by IP Address and Geography

Both geography and IP related control significantly reduces exposure to automated scans and targeted attacks from high-risk locations. Geo-restriction is also extremely effective in blocking access from any regions where no valid users reside.

What Steps Constitute IP and Geo Control?

• Implement IP whitelisting to restrict access to known, trusted addresses.
• Blacklist known malevolent IPs for an essential second facet to this security control.

The TSplus geographical feature works by authorising the user’s chosen countries rather than prohibiting unused locations.

MFA as an Ideal Extra Layer of Security for RDP

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is definitely a good way to strengthen any login procedure. In fact, it is a major deterrent to unauthorized access, even if a password is compromised. This should be no secret since it figures among the tools used for online banking.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra field of identity verification and generally uses a mobile device such as your smartphone. But not always:

How Can I Implement 2FA?

Though it is often sent as an SMS, the random code can also be sent via email or may be generated by a specific authentication app. TSplus provides 2FA independently or as part of product bundles, adding to the variety of choices available.

What does TLS contribute towards securing RDP?

Without encryption login data may be transmitted in plain text, which is a serious security risk. TLS, Transport Layer Security, is the protocol used by HTTPS for encryption. “Secure handshake” is the expression to describe how TLS checks the legitimacy of both parties in a remote data connection. Indeed, without a valid certificate from either end-point, the connection will be curtailed. On the other hand, once identities are ascertained, the ensuing communication tunnel in place is secure.

Keep RDP and Operating System Updated

Many critical vulnerabilities exploited in past cyberattacks were already patched, but systems remained exposed due to delayed updates.

Update and Patch, Patch and Update:

Install the latest security patches and updates for both the RDP service and the host operating system.

Are there cases which still recommend VPN?

In specific cases, VPNs will remain prudent tools:

• H highly sensitive internal systems, such as financial databases or confidential client records
• Environments with minimal IT oversight or fragmented infrastructure, where manual security configurations may be inconsistent
• Networks requiring centralized access control, such as multi-site organisations managing many remote endpoints
• Compliance-driven sectors (e.g., finance, healthcare, government) where encrypted tunnelling and secure remote access policies are mandatory

The extra layer of protection from communicating through a virtual network boundary completely restricts RDP from the public internet.

Advanced Security Tools Keep RDP Secure

As you look around the dashboard, from the live map to the menus of the Admin Console, you will rapidly see important areas to target and where to clamp down as well as those bases already covered by Advanced Security. Below are some of the TSplus power-tools to help secure your RDP connections without VPN.

Firewall:

Three principal areas of Protection: Geographical, Brute force and Hacker IP :

• Geographic Protection (Homeland)

A big favourite, the Geographic Protection settings stop remote connections from other countries than those you validate. The one tip here is to make sure the first country you select is the one from which you are connecting at the time of setup. Check out advanced geo-filtering options to choose the processes that are listened to and watched by Access Protection. Certain ports are included by default, of which port 3389, the standard RDP port. Hence why TSplus security software makes such a difference towards RDP security in just a few clicks.

• Brute force

In Bruteforce Protection, you have the possibility to implement the plan you may have drawn up to strengthen your company’s cyber-security. Keeping “maximum failed login attempts” to a minimum while waiting longer before resetting the counter will noticeably diminish malicious opportunities to hack into your network via password testing.

• IP Addresses

Whitelist certain verified IP addresses which you frequently use. TSplus Advanced Security has already blocked countless known malicious IPs from reaching your servers. These are searchable and can be managed, named/described.

Sessions:

Explore some of what is possible within Sessions control, from Permissions and Working Hours to Secure Desktops and Endpoint.

• Permissions

The Permissions menu enables you to inspect and edit each permission or type of permission by clicking on them, down to even subfolders. The categories users, groups, files, folders and printers can be set to denied, read, modify or ownership status according to the company choices for each.

• Working Hours

Allocate working hours and/or days to various users or groups, set automatic disconnection parameters and plan notifications for warning messages to notify prior to this happening.

• Secure Desktops

With security levels for different uses, Secure Desktop gives access to Kiosk Mode, Secured Desktop Mode or Windows Mode. These are respectively a sandbox use, an in-part access (decide what to allow) and finally a default Windows session. What’s more, each of these is customisable and can be strengthened with right-click and context menu restriction.

• Endpoints

Here, name particular devices from which a user may connect and manage device and session combinations. This tightens security by requiring a pair made of an entitled device and its allocated user’s credentials to match up for a session to be authorised.

Ransomware

TSplus Advanced Security possesses static and behavioural analysis capacity. This means both changing an extension name and the way programmes interact with files provide it with information. It has an initial learning period during which it will track standard behaviour of both users and applications. From thereon it will be able to compare actions and changes with these legitimate patterns. Ransomware itself will stop the attack and quarantine affected programmes and files. With those, Advanced Security’s alerts and reports, Ransomware’s snapshots, and other logs at hand, administrators can source issues, act faster and also set things back to how they should be.

Events, Reports, and Onwards

Last but not least, Events opens the list of logged events for checking and searching. From there, right-click on any particular event to copy it, block or unblock IPs, etc. You can also open the reports tab to generate and send reports at your chosen pace or click on alerts to manage who gets notified about which aspects.

With every parameter, your servers and connections are safer and your data more secure.

To Conclude on How to Secure RDP without VPN

By following a layered, best-practice approach, organizations can significantly reduce the risks associated with RDP. VPNs are helpful, but they are not the only solution. Strong credentials, encryption, access restrictions, MFA and continuous monitoring can make RDP secure even without a VPN. And with the added layer of Advanced Security application servers are well guarded.

The TSplus software suite is instantly available for download on a 15-day fully featured trial. Should you have any questions, we will be glad to hear from you. Our Support and Sales Teams are easily reached. Technical, purchase and partnership matters or specific needs are all taken into account.