Recently, there has been a sharp increase in interest in remote working due to the epidemiological threat. However, it is worth remembering that remote working must involve the security of sharing resources with employees, and the activities undertaken should be safe for both the employees and the organisation they work for. This is discussed in an interview with Hubert Ortyl of Advatech and Michal Nycz of Akamai Technologies.
In recent days, companies have faced a considerable challenge…Hubert Ortyl, Business Development Manager Security Solutions, Advatech: In the current situation, a very large number of companies have decided to move employees to remote working. For organisations with several hundred or several thousand employees, this is a really large project, which in addition they have to carry out in a short period of time. The key issue here is to make all IT resources available remotely in a secure manner so as not to risk the potential loss of company-critical data.
How can Akamai help secure remote working?
Michal Nycz, Account Executive, Akamai Technologies: To get a good understanding of our approach to this issue, it is necessary to refer to the philosophy of the so-called Zero Trust, i.e. the total reduction of potential factors that could compromise the security of our IT environment. In the context of the remote connection to the application itself, Akamai proposes an alternative approach to a standard VPN. In our solution, we do not open any (incoming) connection to the Firewall, while only allowing access to selected users, only to selected applications – without access to the entire network. Application access is performed at the application layer, hidden from the Internet and public access.
What are the potential benefits of such an arrangement?
Michal Nycz, Account Executive, Akamai Technologies: The main advantage is the ability to maintain a tightly sealed firewall, while giving users secure access to the application of their choice. The solution integrates easily and quickly, has multi-factor authentication and SSO functionality for all applications, and a user-friendly interface for access policy management. Load balancing between local servers can also be implemented. As a point of interest, we can add that we give some control over what employees do while working remotely….
Home office also means other threats. Phishing, malware? Can we really have full control over what our employees open?
Michal Nycz, Account Executive, Akamai Technologies: Given that Akamai handles about two-thirds of all DNS traffic worldwide, this gives us significant insight into all current threats (including new types of attacks), so we are able to feed our database on an ongoing basis. We have a dedicated team for this analysis, made up of some of the world’s best experts, who are constantly working to keep this database up to date. The solution that protects against this type of attack is our recursive DNS. The way it works is that all DNS queries internally, from all devices, resolve first to Akamai’s DNS to verify that inappropriate content (websites, phishing, malware – and other threats defined by the administrator, or pulled from CSI) is not being opened. Of course, at the administrative level, it is possible to set which addresses a particular user group should have access to and which should not. Both solutions are compatible and share a common interface.
In the current situation, do you offer additional support to ensure safety when working remotely?
Michal Nycz, Account Executive, Akamai Technologies: In an effort to meet the needs of our customers, we offer a programme to help maintain the business continuity of an organisation and create a secure environment for remote working. We are offering the opportunity to use Akamai Zero Trust solutions free of charge for 60 days – along with full technical support from us. The situation is unique, we feel a social responsibility, so if we can help – we will.
Advatech is a partner of Akamai, what is your role in this promotional programme?
Hubert Ortyl, Business Development Manager Security Solutions, Advatech: In this specific period, our role boils down primarily to promoting or suggesting ideas in the area of maintaining the continuity of the organisation’s operations, where a very important requirement is access to company applications along with ensuring the highest security standards. The proposed Akamai EAA solution is deployable within countable hours for a period of 60 days. Advatech stands ready to assist in the launch of the service. All details of this programme can be found on our LinkedIn and Facebook channels.