Zero-trust remote access solutions
Thanks to the identity-based authentication, you don’t need to be in a special location to access a network. That’s also the big difference to VPNs, which work based on the IP address.
But as digitalization and cloud adoption increased, the way in which users access their IT resources changed, too. And in a post-COVID world of remote, hybrid, and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) work environments, cybersecurity teams need to do more than enable work for anyone from anywhere: they must ensure that every connection is always fully secure.
Therefore, organizations are strengthening their security systems by adopting zero-trust remote access solutions.
What are zero-trust remote access solutions?
In today’s world of work zero-trust remote access is more important than ever. Many employees do their jobs on the go — at home, on the train, or even in a coffee shop all of which require a zero-trust or trust-no-one approach to security. To understand this concept, we must look at how it developed from earlier security frameworks.
Moving beyond perimeter-based cybersecurity
Conventional perimeter-based security frameworks assume that all services, devices, and users within one’s own network are trustworthy. Traffic and access from “outside” the network, on the other hand, are considered potentially dangerous and must be analyzed and restricted. But this means that once someone has penetrated the company network, there are hardly any security measures left to prevent dangerous activities, e.g., an attacker trying to gain administrator rights throughout the network environment.
The zero-trust model stands for a change in thinking compared to traditional concepts as it treats all devices, services, and users as equally untrustworthy. The basic assumption is that in a digitalized work environment, the interpersonal concept of human trust is not a valid principle of cybersecurity anymore — if it ever was.
Enhancing IT security with global network protection
With zero-trust remote access, each action a user performs via the network is verified against a set of rules, enabling the detection of unexpected patterns. Consider this example: Monica usually works from an office in Berlin. One day, she tries to access the network from a Moscow IP address at 3am CET. This action either triggers an alarm or leads to her access being blocked immediately until the identity of the user can be verified.
This fundamental change has a significant impact on IT security architecture as systems must no longer only be protected at the boundaries but throughout the entire global network and at each step in between. Therefore, zero trust doesn’t mean we distrust our employees or other users, but that we must protect them, and our network not based on physical presence but by other means.
What are the benefits of zero-trust network access?
Users are often unaware of what they are doing and some people actively want to harm you. Together with unchecked IT environments or user rights, unpatched software, lack of network visibility, and unanticipated use cases of a software, this quickly becomes a slippery slope for IT security.
Zero-trust network access provides ways to secure your work environment.
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Once granted access, it is continuously verified. This means that once the behavior or the location changes, a new authentication is required.
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Zero trust access offers a fast and secure access to clouds and networks.
How to set up zero-trust access in your company
For companies trying to go the zero-trust route, typically a significant investment is implied, especially if an infrastructure already exists. The first step is to get an overview of the status quo, find gaps, cluster them, and define a game plan. In most cases, a “low-effort and high-impact action items first” approach is adopted.
While tackling 90% of the action items will put you in a safer place, the common belief is that attackers are lazy and go for the low-hanging fruit. This is only partially true. Advanced attacks are sophisticated, strategically planned, and can take place over a long period of time. To make your protection bulletproof, you need a 360-degree view into your network and safe defaults.
Zero-trust access with TeamViewer Tensor
With its Conditional Access feature, TeamViewer Tensor offers your company a convenient tool to introduce or strengthen zero-trust principles and enhance your cybersecurity setup. Conditional Access allows you to granularly manage who can access your network remotely. This means that instead of restricting what cannot be done, you decide what can be done. As a security expert, an IT manager, or the person responsible for the infrastructure, you are therefore now in full control.
By combining Single Sign-on (SSO) and fine granular controls within Conditional Access, you can thoroughly manage who connects to whom and to which device, as well as when and how they are establishing those connections. That way, even if a clever user works around other measures you have in place, the policy you have defined within Conditional Access will act as your best ally and your strongest safeguard. As zero-trust application access is based on various factors, access is only granted if the rules in your system allow it.
And it goes even further: with TeamViewer Tensor, you also have the option to activate multifactor authentication for your accounts and incoming connections.
Award-winning software for both individuals and companies
German-engineered IT security with end-to-end encryption
TeamViewer features like Conditional Access must follow strict European as well as national laws. We built our binaries with built-in security and privacy by design. This helps you to stay on the safe side from a GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) perspective. TeamViewer is also HIPAA-certified.
Many critical businesses around the world already use Tensor for these reasons. And because TeamViewer connections are end-to-end encrypted, nobody can see the content of your remote sessions — not even TeamViewer.