RDP and VPN Usage Increased by 41% and 33% Due to the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid increase in the use of remote access technologies such as RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and VPN (Virtual Private Network). As many companies have shifted their employees to remote work, there has been a significant rise in remote connections to internal networks.

According to statistics from the search engine Shodan, on Sunday, March 29, 2020, the number of RDP endpoints grew from 3,000,000 at the beginning of the year to nearly 4,400,000. These figures only include endpoints operating on the standard RDP port 3389.

However, Shodan founder and CEO John Matherly notes that a similar spike in activity has been observed on port 3388, which system administrators often use to hide RDP from attacks. According to Matherly, activity on this port increased by 36.8%, from 60,000 at the start of the year to 80,000 now.

The number of various servers using VPN protocols such as IKE and PPTP has also grown, rising from 7,500,000 to nearly 10,000,000 to date. These numbers reflect only corporate VPN servers, while consumer-level VPN usage is also rapidly increasing. Since most users are now stuck at home, they are turning to VPN applications more frequently to bypass geographic restrictions.

For example, last week, NordVPN developers reported that since March 11, the number of users has increased by 165%. Atlas VPN also reported a 124% increase in VPN usage among U.S. users alone.

These trends are confirmed by representatives from Top10VPN, who note overall market growth and specifically a 65% increase in demand for VPNs in the U.S. compared to the previous quarter.