If your company allows employees to work remotely, then likely you’ve given them access to your network via a virtual private network (VPN). Using a VPN can help with productivity and cost benefits from allowing collaboration even with geographical separation.
Keeping your network secure with Checkpoint VPN MFA can be tricky if not set up correctly. When working with a remote connection, potentially there could be another avenue of access to the corporate network for attackers. Here are some ways to secure your network access while getting the maximum benefits of your VPN.
How To Secure Access
When trying to secure your network access, you’ll want to have these things in mind.
Use the strongest possible authentication method for VPN access.
This is usually determined by your network infrastructure and what type of operating system your company uses. You’ll want to find an MFA solution that adapts to your existing network system rather than choosing one that makes you change everything. There are many methods you can pick from including, biometric authentication, hardware tokens, email authentication, bypass codes, and SMS notifications.
Keep up on the latest insights on IT security.
You want to find where the most secure authentication is provided by and how it can be installed into your infrastructure. Keep up with the latest blogs and articles to make sure that you are up to date with the latest security news. Your remote employees and contractors should also be discouraged from connecting to the VPN to download commonly needed files, as your VPN should only be needed for high profile documents.
Provide access to selected files not through or VPN.
If you use a secure HTTP website with a safe password authentication, then this will only expose selected files on a single server rather than your entire network.
Implement and enforce a strong password policy.
In the event that you don’t have two-factor authentication, your network connection is only as secure as the weakest password in use.
Ideally you want a password that is a random combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Each user should be mandated to change their password every three months to ensure there is no prolonged use of their password.
Passwords should be unguessable even by other employees and administrators and a large enough character amount to make it harder for cyber attackers to use brute-force attacks.
Provide strong antivirus software and firewall protections and ensure your remote users use it.
Every user that is working remotely, should have their computer fully connected to their VPN. Without it, infections and viruses could spread throughout the network and potentially bring the company’s operations to a halt.
Halt users from the time they connect to the VPN, to the time their computer has been verified as safe.
When a user starts their VPN session, they should not have any access to the server until the VPN verification is complete. The verification process should include checking for antivirus and antispam signatures. This will also prevent sensitive information being leaked while unprotected.
This could potentially delay your users from doing meaningful work for several minutes but that shouldn’t discourage you from securing your access. You can improve your experience with frequent VPN users by having the server remember each user’s history and device locations.
Do not allow the use of other VPNs and remote software while connected to your corporate VPN.
You don’t want your corporate network to be exposed to other networks so it’s important that users are only using your company VPN to access data. Most VPN software sets the client routing to use the network’s default gateway after connection by default.
Remote employees sometimes find that work-related internet browning becomes much slower if all their traffic is routed through the corporate network and will feel compelled to turn this option off. But, that defeats the purpose of any protection you set against hostile sites.
If you can educate and teach your employees how to configure their wireless routers and computers, then you can ensure maximum security. Managing network security requires constant vigilance but if you stay on top of it, you’ll be less likely to encounter VPN-related cyber breaches.
Also Read: How To Protect Your Data By Using A VPN?
