White Paper | The Work from Anywhere Cyber Security Checklist for IT Managers

The Work From Anywhere Cyber Security Checklist For IT Managers

1. Zoom. Navigating the Future of Work (2024)
2. Zylo's SaaS Management Index

The Modern Workforce is Hybrid

Providing secure, fast remote access is a top priority with so many businesses offering hybrid or remote work models. Professionals across nearly every function of the organization work outside the office at least part of the week, so giving them the tools they need to be productive is critical for business agility. And it's not just about people. Devices, technologies, and network resources are no longer solely on-prem with a dramatic increase in sensitive resources in the cloud and SaaS platforms. It's clear that securing remote access is one of the top challenges that IT professionals face. The shift towards remote work has completely redefined the need for more robust networking and network security tools. Sixty-four percent of companies are permanently allowing some amount of remote work, according to a recent remote work survey from Zoom. The same survey found that a full 95% of organizations have adopted a more flexible work model. Many services have stepped up to enable the remote work revolution. Powerful messaging tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack facilitate collaboration in real-time across geographic distances, time zones, and organizational boundaries. In addition, a plethora of mobile devices with 24/7 online access keeps people productive wherever and whenever they go. Businesses are also taking advantage of the unprecedented agility offered by cloud-based environments. A recent report found that the average organization now uses 305 SaaS apps. The good news is that these trends have fueled the modern digital-forward era in which employees can work as efficiently outside the corporate office as in it. But the transition to remote and hybrid work gives cybercriminals numerous cybersecurity gaps to exploit. The following checklist can help you understand what you need to achieve secure remote access for your entire workforce - no matter where they are working or which device they are using.

The Decentralized Workspace is Here to Stay

The WFH Network Security Checklist

• Deploy Secure Private Access
  Using legacy VPN technology to secure and provide remote network access is simply asking for trouble. While VPNs with added ZTNA can offer some protection, they often fall short in a modern, dynamic network environment and are complex to manage. Check Point SASE Private Access overcomes this challenge by restricting access to users or user groups on an application-by-application basis. To further reduce the attack surface authentication is based on user ID, device, and other contextual attributes. Network and application access through Check Point SASE is completely Zero Trust with continuous verification, providing better security and simpler management.

• Protect Internet Access
  With employees working from anywhere on any device, it's crucial to deploy a secure internet access to block harmful websites and stop malicious software from invading the network. Check Point SASE Internet Access adds web security to daily browsing to defend users against harmful websites, malware, ransomware, phishing attacks, and viruses. Our hybrid solution uses both on-device and cloud-based protection ensuring employee devices are defended even when they're not connected to the corporate network.

• Run Over a Global Backbone Network
  Since employees are no longer located solely at the office, redirecting all traffic from a distributed workforce and squeezing it through an on-prem VPN often results in slow connection speeds that frustrate users and lower productivity. Check Point SASE's 85+ global data centers deliver low-latency connectivity to your users whether they're in the office, at home, or overseas.

• Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  Requiring employees to authenticate themselves beyond a username and password is a must-have. MFA ties network access to the proper credentials and employees' personal mobile devices. We support multifactor authentication for policy-based access integrated with LDAP, Google Suite, Azure, OKTA, and more. This ensures authorized and secure remote access is easy to deploy and manage, and convenient to use.

• Provide Secure Access for Unmanaged Devices
  You need to prevent network security gaps from sources external to your business but can't possibly run a profitable business in a hermetically sealed bubble. Contractors, vendors, and others on unmanaged devices are a part of your operation. The simplicity of agentless access makes it one of the most robust and lightweight building blocks of a secure network. By enabling agentless access for employees and third-party workers, you can stay safe and stay profitable.

Check the Security of Every Device

Security posture checks ensure only devices that comply with specific policies can connect to the network. Check Point SASE's Device Posture Check (DPC) ensures devices cannot connect to your network unless they meet your customized policies for the presence of anti-virus software, Windows Registry keys, disk encryption, certificates, and more.

Onboard New Users Quickly and Easily

If you can't instantly onboard and deliver immediate protection for the entire organization, you are already behind schedule. To succeed in today's dynamic workplace, both your business and network must have unprecedented agility. Our easy-to-use dashboard permits administrators to quickly add and remove users as needed - and our SCIM support makes this process even easier for identity providers that support it.

Monitor, Monitor, Monitor

In a changing and evolving threat landscape, you need to have visibility into your network and detect anomalies or attacks before significant damage occurs. Our monitoring dashboard displays up-to-date information about your network usage including active sessions, licenses, gateways, and more.

A Quick Win with Check Point SASE

We believe that the best way to prevent cyberattacks is to simplify networking and network security without sacrificing robust protection and advanced services. Check Point SASE allows organizations and companies of all sizes to meet the needs of their remote workforce while granting IT teams the robust tools they need to manage it all safely. Our cloud-based, converged networking and network security solution embraces the principles of instant deployment, unified management, full visibility, and integrated security. It provides users secure zero trust networking resources whether they're on-prem, in the cloud, or anywhere in between.

Meet Check Point SASE

Check Point SASE is a game-changing solution that delivers 10x faster internet security combined with full mesh Zero Trust Access and optimized SD-WAN performance - all with an emphasis on ease-of-use and streamlined management. Using Check Point SASE, businesses can build a secure corporate network over a private global backbone in less than an hour. The service is managed from a unified console.

10x Faster Internet Access | Full Mesh Private Access | SaaS Security | Secure SD-WAN