“Hacks on the beach”

We come back from vacation, enjoyed our rest and are back to work with full energy. In the meantime, there was a hacker who had an excellent connection at their holiday address. Work continued, the 24/7 cyber threats remain, fueled by the fact that hacking is becoming increasingly more interesting for them. Hybrid working doesn’t always have good security policies, especially when hybrid working is relatively new for many organizations.

Hacks on the beach

Hybrid working is challenging in terms of digital security

Even if we would go back to ‘normal’, we wouldn’t all run back to the office. Hybrid working, both at home and in the office, will remain. For example, there are organizations that still see ‘the office’ primarily as a meeting place to think creatively together and to shape a new idea. “You can work at home”, they say. But how safe is working from home really?

Policy and awareness is a necessity

Anyone who finds working ‘anytime and anywhere’ important will have to re-examine their security requirements. Employees can also communicate with customers outside their company network walls. That’s why a policy will have to be made about what is or isn’t acceptable. In addition, employees will need to be made aware of cyber threats. Think of phishing and applications that you should not use or install. Also outdated private hardware without software updates, which is used for business purposes, can cause serious problems. We don’t solve those kinds of problems. We do know everything about the use of secure internet and secure login to the company network.

Modern infrastructure and architecture supports hybrid working

With OneWan Network-as-a-Service, IPknowledge offers the necessary modern infrastructure for hybrid working. Many applications used today are in the cloud. Where access was given previously to the entire network via a VPN connection, can now be arranged better and more secure with SASE SD-WAN.

Three important advantages of SASE SD-WAN

1. It does not matter where employees work. Whether it’s at the office, a production facility in China, at home or from a holiday address. The same security policies apply everywhere. You no longer have to take the location into account.
2. Users only get access to the applications to when authorized to do so. Further access is protected from the corporate network. An important part of SASE is Zero Trust Network Access. This means, due to the additional user identification, access is better regulated. The network is made significantly more secure. This also applies to external end users (3rd party access).
3. It doesn’t matter if employees are internal or external (3rd party access). In other words, there’s maximum security with Security by Design.

IPknowledge recommends Cato Networks

There are many ‘SASE’ providers, but if you want maximum flexibility and security, you choose a cloud native SASE SD-WAN provider with their own worldwide network. That way you can also log in from your holiday address at the nearest junction. If you want simple management included, then you (almost) always end up with Cato Networks. The integrated solution of Cato Networks makes it easy to add new branches, or new home workers. Even after the implementation, you don’t have to worry about it anymore, partly because IPknowledge can take over all the management from you.

The network as an important basic ingredient

Back to the home office. Are you sure that your colleagues are using a secure internet connection at their private address? Or do they log in via the neighbors’ unsecured Wi-Fi network? It just indicates that safe internet is an important basic ingredient for working safely at home workplaces.

Challenges of the internet

Safe internet is something incomprehensible for many organizations. It’s invisible and you’re not always sure if a cybercriminal has routed your data to the wrong location. That is why it is so important that networks are monitored 24/7 and 365 days a year by highly qualified network operators.

Something to consider

Perhaps now is the time to stop monitoring and managing the basic ingredient, the safe connection. Then your organization has more time and opportunity to ensure that the increasing number of applications and devices also function safely. This prevents ‘hacks on the beach’, or from other places.