Other than the remarkable advances in medical technology, one of the biggest differences between COVID-19 and previous pandemics is that we now have the ability to carry out so much of our work and communication via digital channels. In the post World War I days of the Spanish flu, no one was sitting at home with their computer logging on to their company’s main server and holding virtual meetings over Teams or Zoom.
This does, however, come with its own challenges – particularly in the realm of security. Now, more than ever, it’s imperative that networks are secure and foolproof and there are reliable ways to ensure this is the case, whether the end user is in the home or the workplace.
Mark Verbloot is Director, Product, Solutions and Systems Engineering Asia Pacific Region at Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, Aruba, which has a focus on networking and security, and finding solutions to challenges around connecting devices to networks, scaling those networks and managing them at scale. It specialises in both wired and wireless connectivity, and Verbloot says there are three main areas where Aruba can assist companies with their digital network security. The first consideration, he says, is obviously the necessity of connecting any relevant device to a network. And today, this doesn’t just mean laptops and phones, but various other devices and IoT appliances.
Second, is the desire to protect these assets via conventional mechanisms such as authentication and access control. The term used for this protection framework is ‘zero trust’ and Verbloot notes that one of the first things to do when connecting a device to a network is to look at what devices are already connected – many of them perhaps out of date and sometimes even unidentified.
“What we find when we have these discussions with customers is they are often shocked by the fact that there are all these devices that can connect; they had no idea were on there – old Windows laptops for example, some IoT devices, some unauthorised wireless devices,” he says.
This problem can be solved by machine learning and a particular technique called clustering, which groups similar kinds of devices together, so that appropriate rules and security controls can be applied to all of the devices in that cluster. Aruba has a product called ClearPass Device Insights, which was developed as part of its ‘zero trust’ framework to handle this very issue.
Once connected and any unauthorised devices have been identified and/or removed, the third step is to analyse and act. Connection and protection are all well and good, but in today’s modern networks it’s possible to apply the advancements from artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse the traffic that’s coming from the connected devices and take action if anything unexpected is detected.
Home-based challenges
These three steps relate to all network-based connectivity, but working from home brings with it additional challenges. However, Verbloot says there are already excellent solutions in place for companies who are managing staff working from home.
He advises the implementation of a remote access point, which is a conventional wireless access point with additional functions built in. What it does is extend the secure office environment to the user’s home. Given the typical home set-up for workers revolves around a consumer grade access point that is perhaps being shared with children homeschooling, someone else watching Netflix and another online shopping, the potential risks for anyone trying to carry out secure work at the same time are high. But the remote access point provides a dedicated corporate wireless network sitting alongside the home network, completely separate and therefore bringing no risk of compromise.
Issues that would ordinarily require physical proximity to address – such as a crashed hard disc – can be attended to by the IT department, as the remote access point provides not only wireless connectivity, but ethernet connectivity too, solving the problem of how employees’ laptop issues can be fixed even though they’re not going into the office.
Organisations in the banking, finance and other large enterprise space can be particularly reassured their home-based workers are operating via a secure and equitable solution.
A remote access point can be seen as a hybrid workplace solution, as a long-term work from home solution and a disaster recovery solution. Inexpensive, its other benefit is the ability it gives management teams to monitor traffic usage and ensure that corporate policies are all complied with. Plus as a native experience it doesn’t require a VPN (virtual private network) to run and relies on the same authentication mechanisms that would be used in the office.
There are always unforeseen threats in the digital sphere, says Verbloot, but by implementing intuitive solutions upfront, an organisation is best placed to deal with any potential disasters. “If you’re able to employ machine learning and AI, you can automate a lot of the function around detecting and neutralising these threats before they become urgent,” he concludes.
