What Is Secure Remote Access? – Source: heimdalsecurity.com

Secure remote access is an effective approach to cybersecurity that combines multiple technologies, such as encryption, multifactor authentication (MFA), VPNs, and endpoint protection, among others, to safeguard an organization’s network, mission-critical systems, or sensitive data from unauthorized access.

Its strength is in its flexibility, offering customized levels of access based on individual roles and responsibilities while ensuring operational efficiency. Picture it as a dynamic guardian, permitting secure access but also protecting the data, no matter where users roam in the vast digital landscape.

How Does It Work?

Secure remote access enables employees who don’t work in a physical office to access the resources they require to do their jobs. It allows them to connect to a data center, network, apps, or cloud services using their devices via unsecured home or public Wi-Fi internet connections instead of a company’s network. This approach is like a barrier between hybrid or remote employees’ endpoints and the internet, allowing them to establish remote connections while reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

Since each IT department has its own installations, needs, and budget for enabling safe access from anywhere, secure remote access technologies and policies differ from company to company.

The Importance of Secure Remote Access for Organizations

Many organizations now hire personnel based on their qualifications rather than their location. Remote and hybrid work models have become an enduring trend, and with cyber threats and vulnerabilities on the rise, secure remote access has ascended to the top of the agenda for IT and security teams worldwide, no matter the industry.

Previously, all of an organization’s workers were on its network, and all programs were housed in a data center that was connected to the same network. However, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses had to quickly transition to remote work in order to remain productive and profitable. According to a study, “nearly half of employees worked remotely full-time during the pandemic”. The same study shows that before the pandemic, the proportion of employees working remotely was 30%, which has now increased to 48%.

Today’s security standards are considerably different from even three years ago, and the concept around secure remote access technologies is rapidly changing.

Benefits of Secure Remote Access

Now let’s go more in-depth about the importance of secure remote access and talk about some of the key benefits:

Keep sensitive data secure

Limiting access from outside sources and only allowing it through a safe, controlled method can help you safeguard the data belonging to your company. This significantly lowers your organization’s risk profile, which is essential given the wide range of sophisticated threats that emerge every day.

Reduced attack surface

Boost your organization’s security by minimizing the number of attack vectors threat actors can use to compromise remote devices. This will make your defenses against advanced threats stronger.

Enhanced productivity

Secure remote access fosters flexibility and can increase employee productivity and job satisfaction by enabling employees to work from any location, at any time.

Business continuity

Whether it’s due to a global epidemic, natural disasters, or personal circumstances, secure remote access guarantees that your business’s operations remain uninterrupted.

Cost savings

Physical office spaces and resources in some organizations are no longer needed, meaning that these will save a great amount of money when it comes to real estate, utilities, and commuting expenses.

Talent acquisition

Remote access eliminates geographical restrictions. Enterprises can hire the best talent from anywhere in the world.

Achieve and maintain compliance

By guaranteeing the secure management and transmission of sensitive data, secure remote access helps companies stay compliant with industry regulations.

Scalability

As businesses grow, secure remote access technologies can easily be scaled up to accommodate more users, without compromising security.

Secure anywhere, any device access

Users can have the same level of highly secure access that they previously had while in the physical office. Access controls can grant each user access to certain apps and data depending on their positions and responsibilities. This is among the most important advantages of a secure remote access strategy because many employees kept working from home following the pandemic.

Robust endpoint protection

If the endpoints are not also protected, secure remote access is useless. Protection for smartphones, tablets, and laptops is crucial as users increasingly depend on these devices to do their jobs. In addition, employee-owned equipment should have the same endpoint security features as those provided by the company.

Awareness of security issues

Many new security concerns are posed by an increasingly mobile workforce, this is why organizations need to prioritize education. By maintaining and implementing security policies and best practices, IT and security staff can continuously emphasize the importance of sound cybersecurity habits.

 Secure Remote Access Technologies

The technologies listed below integrate to provide a secure remote access strategy that safeguards an organization’s network and data in the era of remote work and beyond.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPNs are the most common form of remote access. VPNs establish a secure connection between the user’s device and the network being accessed. Information sent through this tunnel is encrypted, protecting it from interception or unauthorized access.

Firewalls

Firewalls serve as a barrier between internal networks and the internet. They monitor both incoming and outgoing network traffic and determine whether to allow or block specific traffic based on predefined security standards.

Two-Factor (2FA)/Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)

Using these methods, a user can obtain access to a company’s network or resources only after successfully verifying their identity in at least two different ways. This could be a combination of a password, email address, mobile device, or even a biometric like face recognition. If a user can’t verify themselves through all required means, their access request gets denied.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

SSO enables a user to access every resource available using a single form of authentication, hence the term “single.” It is frequently used by businesses of all sizes, as well as individuals, to avoid having to remember several usernames and passwords.

Remote Desktop Services (RDS)

RDS allows users to take control of a remote computer or virtual machine over a network connection, frequently used in combination with other secure access tools.

Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS)

These protocols are used to create encrypted connections between a web server and a browser, guaranteeing the confidentiality and integrity of all transferred data.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)

This security paradigm assumes no trust for any user or machine, whether inside or outside the network perimeter. Access is granted upon the user’s identification, the context of their request, and the risk posed by the device and network from which the request is coming.

Endpoint Security

This includes software such as antivirus for endpoints as well as guidelines that specify how remote devices are to be used in the company’s systems. It can involve patch management and the avoidance of downloading or storing mission-critical data on remote devices.

Privileged Access Management (PAM)

PAM solutions help protect, manage, and monitor privileged access to critical assets, making sure that only authorized users can get access to sensitive information and systems. It provides IT professionals with more account visibility by monitoring them in real-time, reducing cyberattacks and insider threats, boosting operational efficiency, and ensuring compliance.

Best Practices for Secure Remote Access

It is crucial to have best practices and security measures in place for remote connections because a lack of remote access security could allow malicious actors to access privileged systems and cause data breaches. Here are some of the most important ones:

Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

MFA adds an additional layer of security, reducing the likelihood of unauthorized access even if passwords are compromised.

Apply Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

By limiting network access to what is necessary for each user’s job role, RBAC minimizes the risk of data exposure.

Maintain updated software

It is critical to keep all software, including operating systems and programs, updated. Patches for known security flaws are frequently included in software upgrades.

Regularly monitor and audit access

Regular monitoring can help identify suspicious activity. Regular audits can ensure access privileges remain appropriate and updated.

Educate employees

Users are often the weakest link in security. Regularly educating employees about the importance of security and safe practices, like recognizing phishing attempts, can go a long way.

Implement Zero Trust Model

A Zero Trust model assumes no user or device is trustworthy, whether it is inside or outside the network. All users must verify their identity for every access request.

Embrace the Principle of Least Privilege (POLP)

Thanks to the least privilege policy, a company’s employees and third parties are allowed only the necessary, just-in-time access needed to do their jobs, preventing them from obtaining full access to the entire corporate network for extended periods.

Use endpoint security technologies

Endpoint security technologies safeguard network entry points, including laptops, computers, and mobile devices from possible cyber risks, providing an additional layer of defense.

Implement SSO and password management

SSO access should be used by staff members as well as third parties to centralize and streamline the authentication procedure. Businesses should also take into account a central credential repository that lets IT managers store, manage, and monitor the use of highly confidential, privileged credentials as well as reset them following a single access instance.

Monitor and audit privileged sessions

In order to reduce the risk of unauthorized activity, monitor user behavior in real-time. A thorough audit trail aids in identifying weaknesses and tracking a suspicious session back to its source. Privileged session monitoring and recording increase organisational transparency and allow system administrators to monitor, and if necessary, interrupt and end a malicious privileged session.

Heimdal® Privileged and Access Management

Since privileged accounts have special permissions and are the ones close to the most critical data of an organization, they, of course, require special attention and management that only can be acquired through a powerful PAM strategy powered by an automated Privileged Access Management Solution that will properly manage the approval/denial flow to privileged sessions.

Why Choose Heimdal?

• Supports zero trust execution: Heimdal’s Zero Trust component saves a significant amount of time for system administrators and, most importantly, it ensures limited access, increased compliance, simplification of addressing risks, helping customers to always be one step ahead of any cybercriminal, insider threat;
• Supports PEDM-type (Privilege Elevation and Delegation Management) non-privileged user account curation functionalities for AD (Active Directory), Azure AD, or hybrid setups, thus removing the risk posed by over-privileged accounts;
• Gives you power over what happens during an elevated session and stronger security against insider threats;
• The only tool on the market that automatically deescalates user permissions on threat detection;
• It enables you to use the historic executions history for all future Allow and Block decisions;
• You have your views of the logs filtered as you wish, by user, by apps requested, and so on;
• Provides a secondary security shield when combined with Application Control for app, user & process throttling, or with Next-Gen Antivirus & MDM;
• Provides flexibility in the approval/denial flow since you can grant or revoke permissions from anywhere in the world;
• Supports Just-in-Time access: the privileged session has a limited timeframe, dramatically reducing this way the time an attacker would have to move laterally across the network if he had previously managed to get access to a privileged account;
• Removes local admin rights using Heimdal PAM closing off OS and web vulnerabilities this way;
• Demonstrates compliance with NIST AC-5 and NIST AC-1,6;
• Whitelists or blacklists applications based on file path, publisher, certificate, vendor name, software name, MD5, and more, protecting thus your critical business assets when paired with Heimdal Application Control.

Conclusion

As remote work became the norm, secure remote access has developed as a pivotal component of modern business operations. It’s not only a way to connect to a network from anywhere in the world; it’s a digital passport that enhances productivity, prevents business disruption, and protects vital corporate assets.

By leveraging a mix of tools like VPNs, Multi-Factor Authentication, and Zero Trust models, secure remote access acts as a protective shield against some of the most advanced cyber threats.