The demand for remote work has gone up significantly in recent months, but even before the dramatic push from COVID-19, remote work had increased 44% just in the last 5 years. Historically, off-site workers have presented security challenges to IT Teams because of employees using their own devices or using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) to connect to another computer remotely. These things have the potential to be problematic when users on their own devices are running outdated operating systems that have a greater chance of being compromised, or when companies unknowingly leave RDP client ports open to the internet, leaving themselves vulnerable to attackers.
Cybercriminals have stolen and sold around 250,000 RDP server credentials in an underground marketplace.
To address each of these threats, we use a security tool called Duo. Duo provides user-friendly 2FA and allows us to enable it on Remote Access Terminal Servers to ensure that whoever is accessing your servers is supposed to be. You can even enable 2FA on individual workstations.
With Duo, rather than scrambling to punch in a number code before it times out, you can use a duo push and simply hit the green checkmark. This is a much faster, easier way to authenticate.
Another way Duo helps us avoid vulnerabilities in remote workers is with Endpoint Visibility and Device Access Controls. This allows us to check every device being used for the latest software, and ensure that those devices have security features, like fingerprint identification or Face-ID turned on. Admins can use endpoint controls to warn users and block any device that doesn’t meet your minimum-security requirements.
These are just a couple of ways that Duo is making remote work safer for a mobile workforce.
To get in touch with runbiz™ and request a Managed IT Services consultation, visit https://run.biz