Hard to believe, but 2022 is just around the corner. We've had another incredible year of growth at OpenVPN and have introduced new cybersecurity features to OpenVPN.cloudsmiaccess server. Things happen so fast that it's easy to lose your way, so we wanted to take this opportunity to look back on some of the notable events and accomplishments of the past year.
We are grateful to everyone who helps OpenVPN continue our mission of reducing the complexity and high cost of building and maintaining a secure private network: our leadership, our employees, the open source community, and our customers. As we enter our second decade in 2021, we remain committed to delivering robust and reliable network security tailored for the new world of remote work.
So thank you all and I look forward to what 2022 will bring.
be successful together
It is a priority for us to make sure that our customers get the best of our products and services. This customer-centric approach was behind the launch of the collaboration with community members on OpenVPN support in February.they were. These forums are a great place for community-based support, but sometimes questions about our products go unanswered or answered incorrectly. To resolve this issue, some members of our support team have started participating in the forums to answer some frequently asked questions and direct people to our support ticket system for official support when appropriate. Since February, there has been a dedicated effort to review customer success efforts and adapt to changing customer needs.
a new website
Thanks to the tireless work of our web team, we were also excited to see the new and improved OpenVPN website launch in April. They have revamped and updated the entire website with a clean and simple user experience. We continue to collect customer feedback and track site metrics so that we can continually improve the site and provide customers with the best possible experience. So far, we've updated and improved several pages: About Us, Media, Careers, Newsroom, Contact Us, and we're updating many others, including the product pages. And to simplify the process of finding the information you need, we've added a search bar and a related pages feature. Now it's easier than ever to find answers to your product questions.
building for the future
We work in a fast moving industry; It is important to keep up with the latest discoveries.DefCon, held in Las Vegas NV in August, was a great opportunity to do just that. Or, as Elfredy Cadapan, OpenVPN's director of product development, put it: "For participants like us, it's an opportunity to meet like-minded people and engage in activities and traditions that encourage ingenuity and creativity."
As the most famous hacker event in the world.DefConis a non-commercial event that deals with all aspects of piracy, both positive and negative. David Lam, QA Engineer at OpenVPN, says: “It is important for the company to keep up with the latest threat landscape. With threats changing every day, knowing how current threats are affecting your business is critical to keeping your business and systems safe.” The three-day event is the perfect place for information security professionals to connect and learn in an informal setting.
Octoberbrought another learning opportunity as new and old members of the marketing team gathered in Scottsdale AZ to dig into all things OpenVPN, get to know each other, and plan for 2022. The world requires a generation of cutting-edge marketing teams, and we're good to go. on our way to achieve both.
With so many team members coming together during the COVID lockdown, the Marketing Retreat was an opportunity to meet face to face and hear from multiple leaders on how different functions work together. Over the course of two days, team members learned about the origins of OpenVPN, details about our products, the evolution of customer success efforts, and short- and long-term goals. The second day of the retreat was dedicated to learning from outside experts how to work smarter and make the most of the unique skills each team member brings to the table. Everyone left with a clearer understanding of where we were, where we are going, and how we will get there.
Features, bug fixes, and new regions
Throughout 2021, OpenVPN released several new features and bug fixes. Cyber threats are evolving, but we are always improving our products to protect businesses and their remote workers.
After a few updates in Q1, we move into Q2 with the official release ofcyber shieldsin OpenVPN-Cloud.cyber shield, a built-in feature of OpenVPN Cloud, protects against threats without funneling your Internet traffic. Using a VPN is great for encryption, but users can still be exposed to malicious content. And masking IP addresses isn't enough protection against cyber threats. Included with OpenVPN at no additional cost, Cyber Shield is easy to use and customizableIDS/IPSand content filtering function that protects remote access with:
- DNS-based content filters to monitor and block by category.
- Accept and block lists for custom domain filtering.
- Traffic filtering functions act like IDS and IPS.
- IPS based on threat category or threat severity.
As spring turned to summer, the OpenVPN team also added 12 new OpenVPN clouds.The region- Miami, Ohio, Montreal, Vancouver, Brazil, Spain, France, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Israel and Japan - nearly doubling the total number of regions offered to 25.
august saw them toonetwork assistantgo live for openvpn cloud access server 2.9.4releaseand new search function on OpenVPN.net. Know the details of each of themHere.
In November, the new OpenVPN was introducedemergency switchspecial feature. We strive to provide reliable VPN server connections, but no Internet-based service, not even OpenVPN, can function without occasional interruptions. Whether it's an unreliable internet connection or ISP, problems with VPN servers, or an issue with your antivirus or firewall settings, disconnections happen. And when VPN connection failures occur, they can give attackers the opportunity to gain access to your online activities, as well as any sensitive information transmitted from your mobile devices. It is precisely for this scenario that the OpenVPN development team added the kill switch feature.open vpn connection, the official client software developed and maintained by OpenVPN Inc.
Another key feature of OpenVPN Cloud, connection visibility, launched in November. We know transparency is key, so we've developed this new feature to bring you much-needed information about VPN connections, right on the status page of the admin portal, which you can use to troubleshoot and assess important VPN session information. (for example, public IP address, cloud region, session duration, data transfer volume). Admin users can now find status information for active, completed, and failed VPN sessions on the status page of the OpenVPN Cloud admin portal.
Now, as we head into the final days and weeks of 2021, LDAP authentication is out of beta and source access control IP and domain services with protocol and port areaccessible.
Looking to the future
Fortunately, last year was not as chaotic as 2020, but the rise of the remote and hybrid workforce, even with the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, has highlighted the need for reliable and scalable cybersecurity solutions for businesses. all types. sizes The OpenVPN team is completely remote; This helps us attract the best talent in the world. It also means that we understand the importance of protecting remote workers, no matter where they are. While we've been a recognized leader in private networks for over 20 years, serving Fortune 500 and small businesses, we don't stop there. We look forward to a groundbreaking 2022, and we hope you'll be a part of it. He promises to be good again.