Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Why Reverse Proxies Outperform VPNs - Peter O'Neill & Boris Kurktchiev

This talk, delivered by Peter O'Neill from Teleport and Boris Kurktchiev, focuses on the advantages of reverse proxies over traditional VPNs in securing modern cloud-native environments. The speakers illustrate how conventional VPNs, based on trust, create excessive privilege and blind spots, posing unnecessary risks. By using the analogy of a package delivery, they explain how reverse proxies restrict access to only the intended recipients and log every interaction. The session features a practical demonstration using Envoy, Keycloak, and sample applications to showcase how a reverse proxy validates identity, enforces per-route authorization, and records actions for enhanced security.