In today’s business environment, the ability to connect to your office network remotely is a necessity for many businesses. Whether it is connecting from home, or from a hotel when traveling, having access to your business network and the information is a common requirement.
Your remote access needs to be carefully thought out, and implemented. By opening the door for remote access, you are also opening the door for remote intruder attacks.
The first thing to be addresses, is exactly who needs remote access. By limiting this to those who truly need access, and not everyone in general, you can go a long way toward keeping your system safe. It is possible to allow access only from specific static IP addresses. Limiting the number of remote users facilitates shutting off the access for someone that leaves the company.
If required users have dynamic IP addresses you will need further configuration. One solution is to use an ISP like NOIP that offers a work-around. Another way to allow for dynamic addresses, with just a few people needing access, for things like VPN certificates can be used. To improve security even further, passwords can be more frequently expired, and monitored.
Selecting the sites you use to create a remote link is also critical. Any site that is publicly available with a wireless link (so called hot-spots) can leave you very vulnerable. This is because a public link is not encrypted. You sessions can easily be eavesdropped. Avoid making connections to your bank or any other critical data that can be stolen, if you are using a coffee shop, or airport, or hotel room, or similar site for your session. Do not assume these facilities have some other protection in place for you. They most likely do not.
If you want to explore this topic further, contact CCS Retail Technical Support.