remote access considerations

Secure remote access: Considerations for K-12 and universities

• Conserve resources through pooled desktops and policies. ...
• Ensure that log-in is user-friendly... ...
• Secure with multi-factor authentication and Zero Trust support. ...
• Provide multiple levels of access. ...
• Consider student onboarding. ...
• Support a wide array of devices. ...

Full Answer

What are the key considerations when formulating a remote access policy?

A comprehensive audit mechanism to ensure policy conformance is also recommended. In case anomalies are detected during audits, the IT department should recommend remediation measures to prevent future occurrences. Other considerations when formulating a remote access policy include but are not limited to the following:

How can OEMs benefit from remote access solutions?

A remote access solution that is backed by a cloud-based management infrastructure can provide the ease-of-use, flexibility, and scalability required by OEMs, without compromising on security.

What should a remote access policy cover?

A remote access policy should cover everything—from the types of users who can be given network access from outside the office to device types that can be used when connecting to the network. Once written, employees must sign a remote access policy acceptance form.

What happens if a remote access policy is not in place?

If a remote access policy is not in place, such risky behavior could go on unmitigated, without the organization finding out about it until after the occurrence of a breach. With a comprehensive remote access policy, employees are made aware of the need to safeguard the network using best practices.

What should a remote access policy consider?

A remote access policy should cover everything—from the types of users who can be given network access from outside the office to device types that can be used when connecting to the network. Once written, employees must sign a remote access policy acceptance form.

What are the examples of security considerations for remote users?

Five Remote Access Security Risks And How To Protect Against ThemWeak remote access policies. ... A deluge of new devices to protect. ... Lack of visibility into remote user activity. ... Users mixing home and business passwords. ... Opportunistic phishing attempts.

What are the components of remote access?

The network topology of a cloud-based remote access solution has three components: a remote gateway, a cloud server, and client software. Remote gateways are connected to field equipment in order to remotely access and control them.

What are the most important criteria for selecting remote access devices?

Deployment, ease of use, mobile access, security, and scalability are key features businesses need to look for when considering a remote access solution.

How do I make remote access secure?

Basic Security Tips for Remote DesktopUse strong passwords.Use Two-factor authentication.Update your software.Restrict access using firewalls.Enable Network Level Authentication.Limit users who can log in using Remote Desktop.

How do you secure remote access to a network?

Use virtual private networks (VPN) - Many remote users will want to connect from insecure Wi-Fi or other untrusted network connections. VPNs can eliminate that risk, however VPN endpoint software must also be kept up-to-date to avoid vulnerabilities that can occur from older versions of the software client.

What are the five elements of a remote access security readiness review?

The review examined cybersecurity at the governance layer and identified five critical pillars key to cybersecurity readiness: culture, people, structure, processes, and resources.

What is the purpose of remote access?

Remote access enables remote users to access files and other system resources on any devices or servers that are connected to the network at any time. This increases employee productivity and enables employees to better collaborate with colleagues around the world.

What are two types of remote access servers?

Remote Access Methods1- Remote Access Server: It's one server in organization network that it is the destination of all remote access connections.2- Remote Access Client: All computers that remote connect to network, called remote access client or remote computer.More items...•

What should a company consider when looking at adding remote employees?

These expectations should include work hours, availability, deadlines, meeting scheduling and attendance, work submission and more. When setting these requirements consider the differences between remote and in-house workers.

What is a best practice for compliance in the remote access domain?

Instead, a best practice is to adopt the principle of least privilege, which means that access for all users should be blocked by default and enabled only for the specific accounts that require it. This will require more configuration, but it is well worth the added security benefits.

What security considerations do you think are important for users accessing their company desktops remotely?

These are the top remote work security issues businesses should be wary of.Managing All Devices and Employees.Insecure Passwords.Phishing Emails.Using Unsecured Personal Devices & Networks.Video Attacks.Weak Backup and Recovery Systems.Require employees to connect over VPNs.Install multi-factor authentication.More items...

What are the security risks of remote working?

Top Security Risks of Remote WorkingGDPR and remote working. Remote work means an employer has less control and visibility over employees' data security. ... Phishing Emails. ... Weak Passwords. ... Unsecured Home Devices. ... Unencrypted File Sharing. ... Open Home WiFi Networks.

What is an example of remote control operations for providing security to an organization?

Popular examples include Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Virtual Network Computing (VNC). While remote desktop access can have convenience advantages, this method is not typically recommended as it introduces significant security risks to the corporate network.

What practices allow you to be at your best when working remotely?

Remote work comes with benefits and challenges....The 5 best practices for working remotely for your small business:Establish a communication plan.Invest in the right technology tools.Clarify expectations and set reasonable goals.Provide social support.Have a security plan.

What does SASE mean for remote access?

What does this mean for the remote access worker? SASE makes it very quick and easy to give optimized and highly secure access to any and all workers. For users in the office, access can be limited only to designated resources, complying with zero-trust principles.

Why are VPNs so secure?

While VPNs provide traffic encryption and user authentication, they still present a security risk because they grant access to the entire network without the option of controlling granular user access to specific resources. There is no scrutiny of the security posture of the connecting device, which could allow malware to enter the network. To maintain proper security, traffic must be routed through a security stack at the VPN’s terminus on the network. In addition to inefficient routing and increased network latency, this can result in having to purchase, deploy, monitor, and maintain security stacks at multiple sites to decentralize the security load. Simply put, VPNs are a challenge – an expensive one at that – when it comes to remote access security.

What is a SASE network?

SASE converges Zero Trust Network Access, NextGen firewall (NGFW), and other security services along with network services such as SD-WAN, WAN optimization, and bandwidth aggregation into a cloud-native platform. Enterprises that leverage a SASE networking architecture receive the benefits of ZTNA, plus a full suite of converged network and security solutions that is both simple to manage and highly-scalable. SASE provides all this in a cloud-native platform.

IIoT driving OEM business models

The IIoT has revolutionized the way business owners view their production environment by providing the capability to acquire real-time data from machines and devices in the field so that business owners can efficiently monitor and control production processes.

Challenges using VPN & RDC

Virtual Private Network (VPN) and Remote Desktop Connection (RDC), the latter using Virtual Network Computing (VNC), are two common methods used to remotely access machines and equipment at field sites.

Cloud-based secure remote access

Cloud-based remote access is a new type of remote access solution that enables flexible remote access to field machines. The network topology of a cloud-based remote access solution is composed of three components: remote gateway, cloud server, and client software.

Ease of use

Plug and play remote access without technical configuration. In a cloud-based remote access solution, security parameters, such as the hash functions, encryption/decryption algorithms, etc., are configured automatically.

Flexibility and scalability

Client software isn’t limited to a specific hardware platform. As long as they have an active client account, users can download the client software to any laptop/PC and have remote access from anywhere and at any time.

Conclusion

OEMs and machine builders require a secure, easy-to-use, and scalable remote access solution to enable on-demand remote access to machines deployed in the field. The traditional VPN and RDC solutions are cumbersome and require IT/networking knowledge as well as changes in the security/firewall policies.

Security Considerations for Remote Access

Recent ransomware attacks have put the spotlight on potential security vulnerabilities of some industrial Remote Access solutions. Around the world, users are scrambling to understand and mitigate these vulnerabilities.

Workgroup Methodology

The material in this document is from direct member comments. Identities are not revealed to allow for a free flow of opinions and observations from direct experience.

What the members say

"A solid disaster recovery policy should also be developed (backup/restore) to allow a system to be returned to a known state quickly if the security controls don’t prevent an attack."

Why are VPNs so secure?

While VPNs provide traffic encryption and user authentication, they still present a security risk because they grant access to the entire network without the option of controlling granular user access to specific resources. There is no scrutiny of the security posture of the connecting device, which could allow malware to enter the network. To maintain proper security, traffic must be routed through a security stack at the VPN’s terminus on the network. In addition to inefficient routing and increased network latency, this can result in having to purchase, deploy, monitor, and maintain security stacks at multiple sites to decentralize the security load. Simply put, VPNs are a challenge – an expensive one at that – when it comes to remote access security.

What is a SASE network?

SASE converges Zero Trust Network Access, NextGen firewall (NGFW), and other security services along with network services such as SD-WAN, WAN optimization, and bandwidth aggregation into a cloud-native platform. Enterprises that leverage a SASE networking architecture receive the benefits of ZTNA, plus a full suite of converged network and security solutions that is both simple to manage and highly-scalable. The Cato SASE solution provides all this in a cloud-native platform.

What is cloud based remote access?

Cloud-based remote access is a new type of remote access solution that enables flexible remote access to field machines. The network topology of a cloud-based remote access solution is composed of three components: a remote gateway, a cloud server, and client software. Remote gateways are connected to field equipment in order to remotely access and control them. Client software is installed on the engineer’s PC or desktop. The cloud server can be installed on a cloud-based platform such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. The remote gateway and client software will both initiate outbound secure connection requests to the cloud server.

What is VPN connection?

VPN connections between machine builders and machine operators are usually site-to-site connections, which typically provide machine builders with remote access to all local devices in a plant’s network. Plant operators want to restrict the network access of machine builders so that only a selected set of machines are accessible.

What is VPN and RDC?

VPN and RDC solutions can facilitate secure connections to remote machines. However, many of these solutions lack the flexibility or the intelligence to meet the specific needs of industrial machine builders. The five key elements that such machine builders have to consider when they use VPN and RDC solutions are: ...

Why do machine builders prefer identical versions of software tools to be installed on both the client and host machines?

Machine builders tend to prefer identical versions of the software tools to be installed on both the client and host machines since this simplifies the troubleshooting process. To do so, the IT engineers assigned for maintenance need to coordinate all updates to software tools between the server and client sides.

What is a RDC?

Virtual Private Networking (VPN) and Remote Desktop Connection (RDC), the latter of which uses Virtual Network Computing (VNC), are two common methods used to remotely access machines and equipment at field sites.

What is remote access for machine builders?

Some machine builders have adopted traditional remote access methods such as Virtual Private Networking (VPN) and Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) to improve their service levels and to provide quick response times for their customers. However, these traditional remote access solutions have various limitations and constraints that prevent machine builders from achieving their maximum service potential.

What is end to end encryption?

a) End-to-end encryption prevents data leaks: Cloud-based remote access solutions provide end-to-end data encryption between a piece of remote equipment and an engineer’s PC. The cloud server only routes the traffic and does not decrypt or store the data that is passing through.

How to remotely access a PC?

On the device you want to connect to, select Start and then click the Settings icon on the left. Select the System group followed by the Remote Desktop item. Use the slider to enable Remote Desktop.

How to remotely connect to Windows 10?

Windows 10 Fall Creator Update (1709) or later 1 On the device you want to connect to, select Start and then click the Settings icon on the left. 2 Select the System group followed by the Remote Desktop item. 3 Use the slider to enable Remote Desktop. 4 It is also recommended to keep the PC awake and discoverable to facilitate connections. Click Show settings to enable. 5 As needed, add users who can connect remotely by clicking Select users that can remotely access this PC .#N#Members of the Administrators group automatically have access. 6 Make note of the name of this PC under How to connect to this PC. You'll need this to configure the clients.