Application Gateways: Why they're the future of the cloud

Formpipe Cloud's recent 22.1 release introduces Application Gateways as our new method of external access, removing the overhead and inconvenience of IP restrictions and VPN connections. But why and how does removing these processes make your data more secure?

Below, I outline a few key benefits application gateways deliver, in the face of ever increasing security concerns, and how Formpipe Cloud leverages application gateways to ensure the highest level of trust and security for your data.

Global and Scalable Solution

Moving to an application gateway access system allows us to provide a more robust, global and scalable service to customers. It also provides increased separation between components and additional fault tolerance making it a much more reliable system to utilise within growing organisations.

DNS Access Only

A major concern organisations raise when considering application gateways is how secure it is with IP address whitelisting and Port Scanning tools being removed from the equation. It's understandable as mechanisms such as IP whitelisting have been standard and used by many for a long time now.

Application gateways circumvent the need for IP whitelisting as it only listens for and responds to specific DNS names. Trying to access any cloud services using an IP address or Port Scanning tools will fail. 

Enhanced Protection

An application gateway allows us to leverage more advanced protection against DDOS attacks and other cyber threats, such as unusual user behaviour and suspicious network activity monitoring. Previously you may have required a separate DDOS protection whereas this is no longer needed when utilising an application gateway.

End to End Encryption

All traffic through an application gateway can be fully encrypted. This allows for flexibility and easily aligns with modern security practices as well as being tailorable to your specific security needs. Formpipe Cloud delivers this by providing a unique certificate per customer, that auto rotates every 3 months.

Monitoring and Alerting

All application gateway activity is logged, monitored and alerted upon. This is a critical feature that allows us to assist in finding and resolving issues before they impact you or your data. Formpipe Cloud provides a variety of alerting from basic service health checks all the way up to malicious network flows.

Want to find out more about how Formpipe Cloud can provide the next generation of document generation, delivery and archiving? Contact sales@formpipe.com.