What Is Remote Work Security?

Remote work is the new normal in the business world, making remote work security a critical priority for IT teams. The challenge for CIOs is how to take business tools meant for a fixed office WAN and securely extend them to remote working situations. Remote work solutions must enable seamless access from anywhere while supporting migration to Zero Trust networking and the SASE cybersecurity framework. Companies that get remote work security right will enable increased productivity, easier decision-making, and lower operational costs.

Akamai can help. Our suite of security solutions surrounds and protects your entire ecosystem — including clouds, apps, APIs, and users — to control access to the internet from anywhere without hindering the productivity of your workforce.

While workforces were increasingly mobile and remote prior to 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated the number of employees working from home. Even as workers gradually return to the office, workplaces will likely be a hybrid mix of on-premises and remote work, requiring CIOs to balance remote work security risks with the need for agility and productivity.

Challenges in this effort include:

• An increase in cybercrime. Malicious actors have taken advantage of the security vulnerabilities created by the rapid move to remote work during the pandemic. To protect their networks, sensitive data, and users from security breaches, enterprises must invest in and deploy best-in-class technology to ensure remote work security.
• Assets outside the corporate firewall. As more employees work outside the office, CIOs must find ways to protect corporate assets wherever they reside. Compared to office networks, home networks used by remote employees are typically more exposed and vulnerable to penetration by hackers. Employees’ laptops and personal devices are often targeted with malware and phishing attacks.
• Unsecured collaboration tools. Open collaboration and video conferencing tools are essential to the productivity of remote workers. CIOs must review security policies for these platforms to minimize the impact of human error while enabling users to quickly and easily set up and run conferences.

Akamai Connected Cloud offers a set of security and access controls that empower the remote workforce to stay productive while minimizing security threats. With Akamai, users can enjoy the same experiences from anywhere in the world, and businesses can protect networks from attack and accelerate application performance. 

Multi-factor authentication enables users to securely log in from anywhere, while Akamai’s threat protection solutions defend employees from malware, phishing, and malicious web content. Edge servers automatically drop network-layer DDoS attacks and block malicious threats like SQL injections by inspecting web requests. And to support Zero Trust security, Akamai only grants access to required applications — rather than the entire corporate network — based on a user’s identity and other security signals.

With Akamai Connected Cloud, you can:

• Secure your digital business by protecting users, endpoint devices, and resources with threat intelligence at the edge
• Maximize the value of security investments by building a cohesive, modern enterprise strategy that promotes collaboration while ensuring remote work security
• Support Zero Trust and SASE frameworks, empowering users with safe, easy remote access to internal resources and the internet

The Akamai platform includes several remote work security solutions.

Enterprise Application Access

To provide secure access to the right application for the right user at the right time, Akamai Enterprise Application Access integrates data path protection, identity and access management, application security, multi-factor authentication (MFA), single sign-on (SSO), and management visibility and control into a unified service that crosses all application locations and types. This flexible and adaptable service offers granular decision-making access based on real-time signals such as threat intelligence, device posture, and user information.

Secure Internet Access

Akamai Secure Internet Access is a cloud-based secure web gateway that enables users and devices to securely connect to the internet, wherever they happen to be. Powered by real-time threat intelligence, this Akamai solution eliminates the intricacy and management overhead associated with other legacy security solutions. Secure Internet Access is a quick-to-configure and easy-to-deploy solution that requires no hardware to be installed or maintained. Real-time Akamai cloud security intelligence and multiple static and dynamic detection engines proactively identify and block targeted threats such as ransomware, malware, phishing attempts, and DNS-based data exfiltration.

Akamai MFA

Akamai MFA is a multi-factor authentication solution that leverages FIDO2, the strongest standards-based authentication method available. Where other FIDO2-based solutions require physical security keys — which are costly and complex to manage and use — Akamai MFA packages this proven security technology in a solution that delivers a frictionless user experience using familiar mobile push notifications.