Securing Remote Work Part 1: Your Data Is on the Move

Over the last several years, the IT landscape and the business world have undergone extensive changes. Data, applications, and even infrastructure have all been moving off premises at an ever-increasing rate, while remote and personal devices are being granted unprecedented access to corporate IT systems both in the cloud and on premises. Bitglass research has shown that 86% of organizations now make use of the cloud, and that 85% now enable bring your own device (BYOD) in some capacity. Interestingly, both of these trends enable and are fueled by the rise of employees working remotely. 

Remote work is not a novel concept; however, the proliferation of complementary technologies and policies across businesses has made it easier and more advantageous than ever before. Recent years have seen the remote workforce steadily increasing, but the events of the last several weeks have accelerated the process to the extent that the vast majority of the workforce is now remote. Amidst this rapid shift in operations, organizations must make sure that they are taking the correct steps to maintain comprehensive security for their remote workers. 

Unfortunately, many of the tools that were effective for securing on-premises employees (or for securing organizations with relatively few remote users) are no longer appropriate for the way that work is currently being performed. This is typically due to scalability issues that stem from solutions’ architectures. For example, consider cloud access security brokers (CASBs) that require software agents to be installed (and maintained) on users’ devices in order to protect data. Additionally, traditional secure web gateways (SWGs) require backhauling traffic to the network for inspection, creating bottlenecks and harming business continuity. Tactics like “VPNing in” also slow down operations and harm user experience. 

In light of the above, organizations should turn to comprehensive security solutions that provide each of the items below:

• Granular security policies that can protect data anywhere and in real time.
• An architecture that ensures rapid deployments, minimal maintenance, and high performance.
• A seamless user experience that helps employees remain productive and nimble.

This blog series will highlight a few components of Bitglass’ Total Cloud Security platform that were designed from the ground up to secure remote workers in our cloud and mobile world. In the coming weeks, we will review how Bitglass can secure managed cloud applications, web traffic, and internal applications. 

Want to read more in the meantime? Download the white paper below for some extra insights on securing remote work.