IT Vortex - Managed IT Services

Six Steps for Securing Your Remote Workforce at Scale

Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are designed to address an organization’s need to quickly suspend normal on-site operations in the event of a power outage, illness, or natural disaster that may make it unsafe for employees to travel on-site. This plan needs to include the ability to quickly establish a secure, remote workforce.

Transitioning administrative staff, technical support teams, HR, marketing departments, and other workers who traditionally work from a physical office – along with access to their data and networked resources – to alternate work sites can be a daunting task. In addition to networking considerations, organizations should be aware that cybercriminals are prepared to exploit the weaknesses and security gaps that often arise during such events. Unprepared users and unsecured systems can quickly become conduits for malware and malicious activity. Since time is of the essence, security must be an integral element of any teleworker strategy.

Here are six things every organization should consider when faced with the need to securely move traditional on-site workers to remote locations.

Steps 1 and 2 – General Teleworker Requirements

To start, every teleworker requires access to email, internet, teleconferencing, limited file sharing, and function-specific capabilities (finance, HR, etc.) from their remote work site. They also require access to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications in the cloud, such as Microsoft Office 365.

1. VPN and Endpoint Security: Make sure all users have a laptop loaded with all of the essential applications they need to do their job. In addition, that laptop needs to include a pre-configured client to provide VPN connectivity to corporate headquarters.

2. Multifactor Authentication: Multifactor authentication helps prevent cybercriminals from using stolen passwords to access networked resources. To enable more secure access, every user needs to also be provided with a secure authentication token. These tokens can be a physical device (such as a key fob), or software-based (like a phone app), and are used when making a VPN connection or logging into the network to provide an additional layer of identity validation.

Steps 3 and 4 – Supporting Teleworkers with Advanced Requirements

Some of your teleworkers need advanced access to network resources to do their jobs. Systems administrators, support technicians, emergency personnel, and executive management teams often need to access and process extremely sensitive and confidential information or operate in multiple, parallel IT environments.

3. Persistent Connectivity: Pre-configured wireless access points enable secure connectivity from a user’s remote location to the corporate network through a reliable, secure tunnel. For a more secure connection, a wireless access point can be combined with a desktop-based next-generation firewall to enable persistent connections, advanced admission control, and a full spectrum of advanced security services, including Data Loss Prevention.

4. Secure Telephony: These users also require a telephony solution that supports voice over IP (VoIP) to ensure secure communications. Both physical and soft client models are available that enable users to make or receive calls, access voicemail, check call history, and search the organization’s directory.

Steps 5 and 6 – Creating a Secure and Scalable Headend

The other half of the equation is ensuring that the headend can scale to meet the sudden volume of teleworkers needing remote access to network resources while ensuring that network access is appropriately secured.

5. User and Device Authentication: A central authentication service connected to the network’s active directory, LDAP, and Radius enables remote workers to securely connect to network services at scale. This solution should also support single sign-on services, certificate management, and guest management.

6. Advanced Perimeter Security: An NGFW solution needs to securely terminate VPN connections, provide advanced threat protection – including the analysis of malware and other suspicious content within a sandboxed environment before it reaches its destination, and high-performance inspection of clear-text and encrypted traffic to eliminate malware and malicious traffic. Scalability for this function is especially critical, as the inspection of encrypted data is extremely processor-intensive. Without advanced security processors designed to inspect high volumes of encrypted traffic, NGFW solutions can quickly become a bottleneck that can impact teleworker productivity.

A Secure Foundation Ensures Scalable Business Continuity

Business continuity and disaster recovery programs require a teleworker strategy that can support a remote workforce with little or no notice, without compromising network security. Such a solution needs to enable secure access to critical resources while scaling to meet the demands of your entire workforce on day one.

These business continuity solutions also need to be easily deployable and configurable, ideally with zero-touch provisioning, to enable a quick transition to a remote workforce while maintaining full security visibility and control regardless of their deployment environment. This ensures that your organization can quickly respond to critical events with minimal impact on productivity and profitability.

Written By Peter Newton


Powered by Fortinet, Delivered by IT Vortex.

Share this post

questions about our services?

Request a free consultation. Fill out the form and we will call you to answer all your questions



Tech Tips, Cyber Threat Mitigation, Cutting Edge Technology, Cost Savings and More!



 

IT Vortex, LLC is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy, and we’ll only use your personal information to administer your account and to provide the products and services you requested from us. From time to time, we would like to contact you about our products and services, as well as other content that may be of interest to you. You will consent to us contacting you for this purpose, by submitting the form.

Apply for this position

Fill out the form below and our hiring team will reach out to you as soon as possible



zoom-logo

We use Zoom extensively to meet internally and externally. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

wasabi logo

Wasabi is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

vmware logo

Our Datacenter is built on a VMWare architecture. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation. 

veeam green logo

Veeam is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Trend Micro Logo
Solarwinds Logo

Solarwinds is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Proofpoint essentials Logo

Fortinet is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

observe IT Logo

ObserveIT/Fortinet is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

NEAT Logo

We use NEAT extensively in our offices. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

mitel logo

Our telephone platform of choice. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

microsoft logo

Various Microsoft technologies are offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation. 

ingram micro cloud logo

Our distribution preferred partner for our technology offerings.

Fortinet logo

Fortinet is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform? We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

DTEN logo

We use DTEN extensively in our offices. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Dropbox logo

We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Dell logo

Dell servers are a key component offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Condusiv Technologies logo

Condusiv Technology is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform? We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Cisco logo

Cisco Technology is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform via DUO for MFA. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Barracuda Logo

Barracuda Technology is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Amazon_Web_Services_Logo

IT Vortex partners with AWS via VMware for the VMware on AWS offering that allows for cloud services fulfillment via AWS utilizing the same VMware products many companies already enjoy the benefits from.

ACTI Logo

Technology Reseller and Distributor, Certified Implementation Expertise with all ACTi products and services. IT Vortex has worked with ACTi for over a decade implementing security camera solutions for a multitude of industries with AI, Facial Recognition, License Plate Recognition, Loitering Detection, Cloud storage, and more.

questions about our services?

Request a free consultation. Fill out the form and we will call you to answer all your questions



microsoft logo

Name of the partner

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco

Security as a Service (SECaaS) by IT Vortex

Pricing Calculator

Choose a service, answer a few simple questions, and receive an individual quote for our services

User count by type

Fill out the form and we will call you to answer all your questions