nLearning

Posted on May 11, 2020

Remote access is essential for most businesses because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s crucial to ensure that remote access is safe and secure, especially since hackers and cyber attacks are likely to try and exploit the vulnerability of businesses during this transition.

In order to ensure that all your staff is working on a safe network, some processes need to be in place for it to be effective. Keeping your data safe is essential, so here are five steps to secure remote access for your business.

What Does A Security Manager Do?

A cybersecurity manager is worth putting in place to help oversee your IT systems. They mainly work on the protection and detection of threats to the system. The goal is to plan accordingly in case of a cyberattack incident while also responding to the detection of threats and cyberattacks.

Strengthening the remote access you have is necessary to avoid these dangers online, and a security manager can certainly help to do that. In addition to detecting threats, they should also be working with staff to help reduce the risk of cyberattacks with relevant training and policies in place.

Why Would You Need To Secure Remote Access?

As much as remote access can help employees work from home or on the move, it’s become a target for modern hacking and data theft. There’s a growing number of people using online applications and services, so the threat of becoming victim to malicious attacks continues to grow.

For example, data breaches exposed 4.1 billion records in the first six months of 2019, and this is concerning because a lot of personal data could be leaked.

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How to Secure Remote Access

Remote access can be challenging to manage for any business that’s only getting used to it for the first time or hasn’t used it before. It’s good to do the basics like generating strong passwords and making sure your staff are being vigilant and using common sense when it comes to dealing with suspicious-looking emails or browsing safely on the work computer.

Assume Hostile Threats Will Take Over

Securing remote access can be done efficiently if you are always assuming that your company will be at risk of hostile threats over time. This means that you’re always ready to take action, should it ever occur. With remote access, you can’t rely on your own network security to provide the typical safety it brings at the workplace. There’s more risk at home in terms of how secure the local wireless system is that the staff member is using.

You might also want to consider any personal portable devices like mobiles that staff use for work because these can also become infected.

Develop Policy Defining Telework, Remote Access

Another way of securing remote access is to develop a policy that defines telework when it comes to remote access. For example, this security policy might want to mention the types of devices that can be used for a particular way of working, whether it’s an approved personal phone or a work laptop that you’ve supplied to the staff member. The type of access they get might also be defined depending on who they are within the company.

You might want to consider tiered levels of remote access depending on your company, and data sensitivity is something to consider too.

Configure Remote Access Servers to Enforce Policies

It’s worth configuring your remote access to a single point, such as an agency’s network perimeter, that ensures there’s only one entry point for your network. Compromised servers can often be used to jump to and from other systems on the network, which is only going to cause more damage, and using NKN can help ensure that these problems don’t happen.

Secure Telework Client Devices Against Common Threats

Remote devices like laptops and handhelds should have the same security control as company devices. Try to secure your own devices against common threats where possible. You should ensure personal firewalls can support multiple policies and configure it to work for both the workplace environment and the private environment of staff members.

Employ Strong Encryption, User Authentication

Encrypting data to protect the files you have on your clients and the communications you have between one another is crucial. It might also be worth putting in a two-step authentication process where the staff member has to verify themselves before gaining access. This can help ensure it’s your staff member that’s accessing the system and not some random hacker who got the information.

What to Do if Malware is Already Discovered?

If malware has already been discovered, don’t panic because you’ll need to concentrate on managing the situation as quickly as possible.

Scan Your Networking Using Your Antivirus System

Most systems that you have in place to act as a firewall for your network might have the programs in there to help remove the infection. Scan your network using this system and follow the instructions.

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Disconnect The Infected Computer From Network

If the scan hasn’t worked in terms of removing the infection, then it’s time to disconnect the computer and any others that have been infected from the network. This will help prevent the spread of malware because everyone is using the same network. Once you’ve disconnected it, you can then run the scans on the other computers to ensure it hasn’t reached any other desktops. You should also avoid using the web at this point because that can give hackers access to the financial information that a staff member might have stored there.

Let Your Tech Team Handle The Rest

Once you’ve pinpointed all the infected hardware, it’s now time to leave it to your tech team to handle the situation. They can go through the process of eliminating the infection while making sure to back up all the data on the computer and restoring it to its original function.

Conclusion

Your remote access must be as secure as possible, so this might be a good time to invest in IT security, whether that’s hiring someone with the experience like a security manager, or outsourcing it to a company.

NKN motivates internet users to share network connections and utilize unused bandwidth. Their robust networking infrastructure enables application developers to create a decentralized internet solution so that everyone can enjoy secure, accessible, and affordable connectivity.

That way, your employees can enjoy a safe and secure network connection for them to collaborate, share files, and to get the projects done on time all at the comfort of their own home.