Smart working: new risks and new remote security

Remote work is an important resource, but it introduces risks that require protection beyond the corporate perimeter.

During an emergency, smart working is a major resource for companies, Public Administrations and every organisation able to adopt it. It can nevertheless conceal new risks, as explained by Roberto Cao Pinna, Tecninf Head of Special Services.

A client connecting securely to the corporate network starts from a network that cannot be considered trusted. Countermeasures available to devices inside the corporate network cannot always be applied through a remote connection and are not guaranteed when the client is not connected through a VPN.

An employee may use the company laptop for personal activities such as social media, private email, online learning or file sharing. In a family environment, other people may also increase the risk unintentionally by using unverified services.

If the laptop becomes infected with malware or is controlled by an attacker, the greatest problem arises when the employee connects to the VPN: the malware can then reach the corporate network and spread to other systems.

This scenario requires organisations to go beyond perimeter defence and adopt tools that continuously monitor network activity and detect potential hacking actions.

Tecninf created a network of experts to analyse and test corporate protocols, helping organisations that use VPNs to screen threats. Hoping that nothing will happen is never a strategy on the Internet: countermeasures must be effective, layered and designed by professionals who study cybercriminal techniques every day.