Protecting yourself from remote users
My company has been going through an explosive growth phase. We now have more and more remote users to deal with and Management is concerned about protecting sensitive company information. We have a VPN between corporate offices already in place. We probably should look at putting a policy in place but are not sure where to start. Suggestions ?
-- via the Internet
This is like opening up Pandora's box. I won't be able to cover everything but I should at least be able to give you a some things to begin with.
It is good that you have a VPN in place for intra company links between offices. You may want to extend its use to your remote users. Anyone who accesses the corporate network will do so over a VPN connection, whether they are coming in via a dial-up connection or a DSL/Cable modem link. You have many options here, from hardware based from Nortel and Cisco to a software based one such as the VPN Services in Novell's Border Manager product.
Especially when your users connect through a DSL/Cable modem, a locally installed firewall can further protect the PC that is accessing your network from hackers. The Linksys BEFSR11 single port router is affordable and easy to set up. Dlink has a similar product in the DI-704 that also supports the use of a dial-up modem. Using this on a dial-up connection may seem unecessary to some but the DI-704 is very flexible in its setup. It is worth considering.
If you don't already have corporate standards in place regarding the use of anti-virus software on laptops, now would be a good time to do so. Since some of your remote staff may be using their own computers in addition to what your company is supplying them to access your network, you may want to consider expanding your policy to require that anti-virus software be installed on these machines as well.
Also, be sure to stress the point with your remote people that they will need to keep the signature files for the anti-virus software up to date.
RELATED LINKS
Help Desk forum
Post and answer networking questions.
Ron Nutter, a Master Certified Novell Engineer and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer in the Lexington, Ky., area, tracks down the answers to your questions. Send your questions to helpdesk@networkref.com.
