Do’s and Don'ts for Remote Access

As remote access has enabled more and more people to work from home, a business’ security has become harder to reinforce. After all, while you can control the solutions you have protecting your business, you don’t have much control over the solutions that your employees have at home. Here, we’ve provided some of the best practices that you should reinforce when your team is working remotely.

For simplicity, we’ve arranged them into a list of “don’ts” to avoid, followed by a list of “dos” to enact.

Don’t...

...allow your staff to use unauthorized personally-owned devices. - One of the benefits of having an in-house staff is that you have much more control over the solutions that they are able to put to use, and can therefore ensure that their tools are secured properly. When they are working remotely, however, you lose some of that control. As an alternative, consider keeping a supply of laptops on hand for your staff to bring home when working from home. Doing so will allow them continued productivity, while still using a device that is under your control.

...allow your staff to make use of insecure public Wi-Fi connections. - In a similar vein, some of your remote workers may consider working in a public place with complimentary Wi-Fi connections when they are not confined to the office to be productive. Unfortunately, the convenience of these connections also makes it more convenient for attackers to find potential victims. If they have no other options, make sure your team members have virtual private networks (VPN) installed and active and are using their best judgment.

...allow your staff complete access to your network and data. - Take the time to consider what each member of your team needs to fulfill their individual duties. Their role and level within your organization will impact the data that they should need for their job, as well as what they shouldn’t see in the first place. On top of that, when they work remotely, access to this data is now potentially available outside of your business. Mitigate these security issues by making them a non-issue in the first place.

Do...

...verify what your staff has to work with. - In order for your team to remain productive, they will need to be able to access your data and solutions from their home without issue, as well as the means of communication to collaborate with their teammates. Take the time to check in and make sure what each of them needs to properly do their job. This includes a secure and reliable Internet connection to be able to access the resources they’ll need.

...verify that everyone is following best practices concerning their security and access credentials. - While we’ve touched on this already, access to these devices is effectively impossible to control once they’ve been taken out of the office. Ensuring that these devices are fully secured while in reliable and educated hands can prevent something from happening to them at all, and if something were to happen despite this, the damage would be minimized.

...verify that all communication policies and security procedures are followed. - Your employees may find their security standards slipping as they work in the perceived safety of their own home, which could open them up to some attacks. Make sure that they are still following the same best practices as they’re beholden to in the office, or preferably, more stringent ones.

Directive can help you put the IT solutions in place to ensure that your remote workers are operating securely. Learn more about remote user access by reaching out to us directly… call 607.433.2200 today to speak to one of our IT professionals.