Secure Remote Access for Critical Infrastructures

Secure Remote Access for Critical Infrastructures

In the United States, the government has identified critical infrastructure sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like you, we’re grateful for the workers who fill these important roles. While many of these jobs require workers to be on-site, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has identified remote connectivity as a technology that can help employees perform their work at home.

While not all functions can be performed remotely, many companies have adopted the policy of allowing employees who can do so to work from home (including ProSoft). However, for every company and especially those included in the critical infrastructure guidelines, security needs to be top of mind when enabling remote working environments. In doing so, you can protect your critical operations and equipment; proprietary data; and any other sensitive information.

Here are a few considerations to keep in mind when selecting a remote connectivity solution for your critical infrastructure: 

∙ Real-time information: Whether you need to monitor equipment at certain times or have continuous real-time data at the ready, remote access is most effective when it’s readily available. The ideal solution will allow for reliable, secure connections for you and your team, with minimal or no downtime.

∙ Security your IT team will sign off on: Remote access to anything needs to be secure. For companies in the critical infrastructure sectors, this is especially true. Financial firms, public utilities, and any number of organizations need to ensure remote connections are protected. We advise opting for an IT-secure solution, ideally one that uses a defense-in-depth layered approach to security. This includes no software installations, token-based two-factor authentication, detailed audits, real-time control over user access, and single sign-on support.

∙ Quick setup for your OT team: Another key element of an ideal remote connectivity solution is ease of use, including setup. Many companies are in the position now where having a scalable system that can be set up quickly is key. There’s no crystal ball for COVID-19, so you’ll want to make adding new equipment as easy as possible for your OT team. By opting for an intuitive Web-based service or dashboard, you’ll make remote access to your equipment as streamlined as possible – for however long you’ll need it.

Need to add remote access quickly? Find out the actions we’re taking to help.