Perimiter Security and Remote Working

Remote working is an essential part work life for businesses all over the world.  The ability to allow employees access to their email and work related files from anywhere with an Internet connection can significantly increase productivity.  With the recent increase of WIFI hotspots and mobile broadband speeds, a remote worker no longer has to be someone confined to working from their home.  They could be a travelling salesman sat in their car updating a sales opportunity after a meeting with a client or a director of a business catching up with their emails from an Internet cafe in an airport while they wait for their flight.  Allowing remote access to a corporate network brings with it huge risks regarding the perimeter security, however, if managed correctly these risks can be hugely reduced.  During the last month I have been working on a client's site introducing new security measures to ensure that the risks associated with their remote workers do not out way the advantages that they bring.  With the introduction of a Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) Server accompanied by an Internet Authentication Server (IAS), a solution was provided giving all remote workers two factor strong authentication when connecting to their corporate network.  The key requirements were to secure access to the Virtual Private Network (VPN), Outlook Web Access (OWA) and the corporate intranet.  The solution used One Time Passwords (OTP's), which were generated using tokens associated with each user, in addition to the user's regular user name and password.  Although two separate authentication methods were being used, the Single Sign On (SSO) technology used meant that the remote worker only had to provide their logon credentials once.

Post a comment

SymTex on Twitter

Wed 2 Nov 11 @ 10:31 SQL Server 2008 Change Data Capture provides a powerful platform for asynchronous loding to a data warehouse, but this… http://t.co/vHb8VlMN

Wed 28 Sep 11 @ 20:21 Architecting data warehouse solutions to deliver real-time business analytics and decision support capabilities to leading UK finance client

Fri 23 Sep 11 @ 21:34 Burning the midnight oil for the greater good of generating client revenue

Fri 23 Sep 11 @ 7:50 I'm hiring! UK Telesales / Marketing Professional at SymTex - Coventry, United Kingdom #jobs http://t.co/mutjj0ja

Business News

Our Services Delivery expertiese includes:  Software Developers, Database Development, Custom Applications, UK