Worried about who has Remote access to your Server?

Remote access to your network is an essential function of keeping your mobile users productive wile on the road or working from home, but how can you sleep at night knowing this remote access is secure?

Your Server and Firewall technologies offer you a range of options for remote access, generally Comcity recommend utilising the following depending on your business requirements:

• Remote Web Workplace (RWW) for user to access Small Business Server (SBS) Networks for email and files from any web browser
• Remote Desktop Connections (Terminal Services) for accessing Line of Business applications and files
• Virtual Private Network (VPN) for secure remote access to your network

Comcity will configure your remote access according manufacturer and industry best practice BUT with increased remote access comes new risk, which is where Scorpion Software comes in.

Their security solutions provide an additional and vital security layer to high risk remote users, offering strong authentication solutions that can help provide identity assurance and allows you to definitively prove with confidence that when someone tried to remotely access your company's resources, they are who they say they are.

Protect Remote Web Workplace (RWW)

Be it from software Trojans with keyloggers to shoulder surfing baddies in the local Internet Cafe or web kiosk, a password alone is not much protection. If you have remote users using RWW from un-trusted sources, real threats exist that may expose your business to new unnecessary risk. No security tools native to SBS or RWW can protect from these risks, including the "I'm using a public or shared computer" checkbox that many people think will protect them. If an adversary can get a user's credentials, they can access every resource that user can access... without you being the wiser.

This sort of risk can be reduced to more acceptable levels with the introduction of RWWGuard. This agent adds an identity assurance check directly to the RWW logon page, requiring users to enter in a unique pass code that changes each time it is used. In this way, even if someone was able to covertly capture logon information, it will be useless to them without our AuthAnvil dynamic one time password (OTP) generator, commonly called an "authentication token".

You do not have to force all users to require an AuthAnvil token. This helps to reduce your deployment costs by only requiring those users at higher risk such as remote sales people in the field and telecommuters to use strong authentication. Other users will continue to use RWW like they did before.

Secure Terminal Services

When employees or partners need to access Microsoft Windows clients and servers they will log on directly at the keyboard, through Terminal Services or through a direct RDP session. Replacing Microsoft’s Windows Logon Screen, AuthAnvil requests the user for their standard network credentials AND their AuthAnvil pass code for that logon session from their One Time Password Token.

This lets users securely access Windows XP and Windows Vista desktops or Windows Server 2003 and 2008 servers from anywhere, at any time, when they need it most to do work remotely. It can even protect the Small Business Server itself, only allowing appropriate administrators the access they need to administer and manage the server from anywhere in the world. All with the benefit of knowing, with confidence, that the person connecting up is an authorized user and not someone who has received a password that was shared, stolen or easily guessed.

Strengthen Virtual Private Networking (VPN)

A mobile workforce is a great asset to a business, and a great liability. The use of virtual private networking (VPN) allows businesses to provide remote access to corporate information assets. Unfortunately, VPN is only as secure as the endpoints; a weak password system can expose your business to great risk as there is no way to reliably prove the identity of the remote user that is using that credential. When using AuthAnvil, you can get the identity assurance that you need.

With AuthAnvil, the user simply replaces the normal password they would provide in the login dialog with their AuthAnvil pass code, a combination of their personal PIN and the unique one-time password generated by their authentication token. Only once the correct AuthAnvil pass code is provided will the local network access be granted.

Comcity has implemented Scorpion Software solutions to our clients with great success. If you would like further information regarding potentially utilising these solutions for your business in future please feel free to contact your Account Manager.