Securden Tunnel: A Highly Reliable Option to Route Privileged Remote Connections

Introduction

Most legacy PAM solutions still utilize TCP-based connections as the network protocol to route remote RDP/SSH traffic. We have introduced the Securden Tunnel in Unified PAM to fast-track remote sessions by leveraging UDP-based connections.

Highlights

The Securden Tunnel outperforms basic SSH tunnels that utilize TCP-based routing. This improves the speed and stability of remote sessions, providing a seamless experience for end-users accessing IT assets with Unified PAM.

The benefits of the Securden Tunnel include:

• Better Reliability - Guaranteed delivery per stream, implemented by Securden itself on top of UDP.
• No Head-of-line Blocking - The tunnel operates on multiple independent streams; a lost packet only blocks its own stream; others continue.
• Better Network Mobility - Does not break and reconnect upon network disruption; the connection survives network switches without re-establishing.
• Zero Handshake latency - There is a 0-RTT handshake for known servers; data can be sent almost immediately.

How it Works: Quick Summary

• Pre-requisite: Outbound port 443 (UDP) must be open for Securden Tunnel connections.
• Connection & Authentication: Authentication is validated based on the auth token sent by the client, and an SSL handshake ensures successful encryption of network traffic.
• Traffic Flow: All Web RDP and Web SSH traffic flows through the Securden tunnel to the client server.

Steps to Enable the Securden Tunnel in Unified PAM

Step 1: Configure Tunnel Mode

Navigate to Admin >> Customization >> Configurations >> Miscellaneous (General)

Find the configuration to Specify Tunnel Mode and edit the setting by selecting Securden Tunnel instead of SSH Tunnel.

Once the mode is modified, your Remote Connectors will utilize the Securden tunnel to route SSH connections.

Step 2: Restart Tunnel Services

You need to restart the Securden tunnel service in the remote connector or API Server for the change to successfully take effect.