Remote Working
Given the explosion in remote working, organizations know their data is more at risk than ever. Cyber-criminals spend huge amounts of time searching the world’s networks for vulnerabilities, for one simple reason. It pays. Work-from-Home models are opening doors to criminals as the attack surface continues to expand.
Common solutions to cyber-security, built around old enterprise datacenter network architectures firewall appliances, VPNs, laptop malware detection software, and many others – are no longer keeping up in a world of cloud-enabled SaaS/PaaS solutions and the acceptance of “Bring-Your-Own-Device” (BYOD).
As a result of Covid-19, as workers were forced to move their office space home, their supporting infrastructure changed. Many leveraged their existing home networks - often shared with other family members who were working, attending school zoom sessions, streaming video, or gaming.
The Internet connection that had previously been suitable was suddenly unreliable and inadequate. Workers could not easily maintain reliable connections to some company resources. And, IT teams worldwide - suddenly remote themselves - had to address these issues quickly, often with what were expected to be quick, temporary solutions. Security vulnerabilities became evident and widespread. Unsecured access to cloud applications, personal devices with weak passwords, and connectivity across a patchwork of secured and non-secured networks exacerbated the already serious problem of cyber-attacks on data as it traversed networks (“data-in-motion”). As digital information moved between locations within or between computer systems, cyber-attacks occurred. Attackers hit data-in-motion at their most vulnerable points.
A Catalyst for Permanent Change
Covid-19 has become the catalyst for a permanent and significant home-based remote workforce. Many companies have confirmed that remote working staff has maintained or increased their productivity levels. Many workers have stated their preference for a home-based office.
Organizations are questioning the need for expensive commercial office space they are using and see an opportunity for cost reduction. All these factors confirm that Covid-19 has become the catalyst for creating permanent change in home-based remote work, and in turn, the need for a simple yet robust supporting technology infrastructure.
Businesses need to ask themselves the hard questions:
- How do we get business applications and data into the hands of the people who need them?
- How do we scale our remote solutions to serve the majority of employees - not just a few?
- Can our existing virtual private network (VPN) solution support this remote workforce?
- How do we protect business communications and sensitive data when many are working outside the safety of our network firewall?
- How do we manage this new distributed workforce model?
Traditional VPNs are no longer good enough.
The new workplace paradigm requires a remote-enabling technology infrastructure that is flexible and scalable, yet simple to deploy cost-efficiently. Since this infrastructure will support a more permanent home-based workforce, it must meet the expectations of workers who are accustomed to an in-office IT support experience.
For years, businesses have been told that VPNs create a secure, private tunnel that allows communications and data to traverse safely over public, non-secure networks. This is, in fact, only partly true. As cyber-criminals have become more sophisticated, they have exposed VPN security vulnerabilities, resulting in some very high-visibility data breaches and attacks. Unless businesses and their users are vigilant about consistently updating their VPN software, encryption protocols can become outdated and prone to attack. Also, VPNs don’t inspect and filter incoming and outgoing traffic, which allows some security threats to slip through.
VPNs typically require manual, high-touch administration, which introduces the element of human error into the security equation.
Veea’s Simple and Secure Solution: The Smart Computing Hub (SCHs) and the vTPN™ Security Service
The Smart Computing Hub at Home
The VeeaHub® is a simple, enterprise-grade connectivity solution designed to support home-based remote workers. It provides protected Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and optional wireless broadband connectivity separate from their personal broadband connectivity solutions, supports company-issued devices and Bring-Your-Own-Devices (BYODs), enables remote access to workplace desktop computers, and eliminates the cost and performance challenges experienced with traditional VPN solutions.
The vTPN Security Service
Having robust connectivity isn’t enough for your home-based remote workers. Security is paramount and businesses need to provide the same - or better - security to employees at home as they have in the office. This is easier said than done.
A full-stack security solution, the vTPN Security Service is comprehensive so as to enable secure end-to-end remote access. For a distributed workforce, vTPN Service components are deployed at your user endpoints and at key network points in the cloud or enterprise. vTPN NetEdgeConnect software runs on VeeaHubs in remote workers’ homes, and vTPN CarrierEdge or Cloud Edge software is deployed in the cloud or on servers in enterprise data centers.
As a cloud-based security service, the vTPN Service inspects all traffic for threat potential. It maintains real-time data on threat vectors and user privileges to ensure secure access to applications and resources in public and private clouds as well as corporate locations.
The vTPN Service protects against ransomware, malware, viruses, spyware, DDOS attacks, and more with fully integrated, ‘always on’ protection against data-in-motion threats - no matter if they originate outside or inside your environment.
A Winning Combination from Setup to Dashboards
Setup is Simple
- The VeeaHub arrives pre-configured so that it can be deployed quickly by the home-based worker—unbox, connect, and use.
- VeeaHubs ship with the vTPN Service pre-configured.
- Connect the VeeaHub to your local broadband and/or cellular WAN links.
- The VeeHub will be ready to go and use.
- Configuration is Simple.
- Once the device has been set up in the home, the IT team can remotely activate, monitor, and manage the device.
- A simple, unified interface manages your VeeaHubs and other vTPN Service elements.
- Monitor your network with an intuitive graphical user interface and display critical data charts, security alerts, and trends in a single dashboard.
- Express your access policies and enforce them from one unified portal to all your locations, mobile devices, and cloud apps.