Why an increase in remote worker VPN use risks enterprise security

Why an increase in remote worker VPN use risks enterprise security



For many of us, our home has become our workplace over the past few months, and a full return to the office still appears a remote prospect.


The COVID-19 pandemic has proved that employees from across different industries can work efficiently from home. A recent PwC Survey found that 84% of employees feel able to perform their role just as effectively when working remotely as they would in the office. PwC itself expects the majority of its 22,000 UK staff to spend some of their time working remotely, even after the coronavirus crisis passes.


Enterprise businesses equip staff with mobile devices such as laptops and smart phones to perform daily tasks. This makes the workforce much more mobile but places an implicit burden on the staff to ensure that they are always online. Security is handled by the underlying operating system and supporting solutions, such as a Virtual Private Network (VPN).


While commercial VPN technology has been around since at least 1996, it has reached a new level of importance due to increasing numbers of employees accessing corporate network resources remotely.


As a result, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recently updated its advice on the use of VPNs by home workers. The advice includes a new section on the topic of “Managed Tunnels” which, as the guidance outlines, allow you to access specific services outside of the VPN. For example, they can be useful for reducing the load on networks caused by video conf ..

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