Tragically, malicious forces have repeatedly attempted to capitalize and take advantage of the rapid expansion of remote work since early 2020. Consider the following and let us know if we can help your employees work remotely with peace of mind when it comes to security.
Utilizing a VPN without addressing vulnerabilities leaves your business open to a whole host of security threats.
The VPN is typically used as a secure and encrypted pipe within public internet that reaches from an end
user into your environment. And while having a solution in place is imperative, stopping here could
cause a lot of issues down the road. It should be noted that the VPN is usually only protecting the data
that is in transit, it has no control or authority on what’s happening on the end user’s device, or
unfortunately no way to remove a hacker if they are able to make it through your security protocols.
And now that all these users are using the VPN to access corporate files and apps, not only have you
spread out that many more individual pipes, but that many more points of entry and opportunities for a
cyberattack to occur. You’ll also have to respond to the strain it puts on performance from a network
perspective, and then how does that affect the performance of your employees.
It’s time to look at your VPN
So, what should you do be doing as a business manager or IT leader? There are plenty of resources out
there. If you don’t already know about the Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency, they post a comprehensive list of known vulnerabilities of popular technology solutions.
Here are some of their suggestions:
– VPN patches are essential and should be prioritized due to the high risk of exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities.
– Create policies that ensure that users only have access to systems, apps, and data that are critical to perform their work duties. Don’t open up everything, to everyone.
– Set up monitoring solutions around network access to identify potential compromises.
– Phishing attacks target remote workers to obtain their VPN credentials. There are solutions than can flag these messages before they are even delivered.
– Enable Multi-Factor authentication to create an additional layer of identity, and significantly increase your enterprise security.
Make sure you are addressing your VPN situation immediately. If you own small or medium business,
the scope of your company’s network infrastructure has likely expanded. If
you already have a VPN in place, the additional point solutions might be overwhelming. The good news
is that some networking solutions have evolved to incorporate a lot of these policies, e.g. (Citrix ADC).
In evaluating your current VPN solution, ask if it is protecting your business like it should and could it be
doing more? Be diligent in monitoring potential breaches because new threats are exposed every day. Of course, if you need some help in making evaluations, Wincourse is always here to help.