How to Secure Branch Offices?

In the corporate world, we take data security at headquarter critically, leaving branch offices insecure or less secure than headquarter. This negligence made security infrastructure of headquarter vulnerable to remote attacks than can be generated from branch offices or remote employees. So, it’s essential to look forward to secure branch offices as secure as headquarter in order to defeat potential threats in this rapidly growing era of attacks.

Many companies and workers are embracing the flexibility offered by the internet to work at home full time that is another challenge causing big headaches for tech pros tasked with keeping company assets secure. So what can be done to achieve data security at branch offices?

Remote users:

The remote users are the security minefield. "Connected devices in the home likely have far fewer security controls associated with them," says Andrew Hay, CISO of DataGravity. "Every organization should have policies, procedures, and guidelines for acceptable use of company resources when outside of the physical office walls."

Since, home routers and network devices are not enough secure than network devices at offices, so companies should encourage remote employees to be vigilant about securing their routers. Users should change the default admin username, create a strong password, and make sure that their router’s firmware is up to date.

Outdated Devices:

It's not just your routers that need updating, though: any device on your home network can be a backdoor into your work machine if you bring it home. The outdated devices are vulnerable when connected to a network that is not highly secured. So, it’s necessary to make sure that all the devices that are connected to home network for carrying office task are updated.

Danger at the Small Offices:

But if most people are at least aware that precautions need to be taken at home, small branch or remote offices can be even more of a danger—precisely because people assume they're "at work" and thus protected. So, corporate IT needs to have visibility into what is occurring within the office—and that can be challenging in the main network.

In many cases, branch offices are simply left to their own devices. Most small and enterprise companies have great solutions and teams monitoring their large networks, but only have firewalls and antivirus software in their branch offices.

Central command:

To impose order, you'll need to use software that can put security measures and policies in place remotely. IT department at branch offices are needed to deploy security solutions that are centrally managed and have complete provisioning, so they can be easily configured and deployed without error across all sites.

Moreover, implement automation as much as possible and develop an infrastructure that allows full remote configurability and visibility into what is occurring within the remote locations.

Keep data safe and secure:

Cloud-based solutions and apps are often used to knit remote offices in the larger enterprise, but organizations need to have a SaaS data disaster recovery plan that includes an automated third-party backup and recovery solution. It gets dicey when you start having people work remotely because you have to have a way to connect to the home system. This connection point is another point of weakness.

However, working in a physical office doesn’t make your data and process secure, you must take security precautions by using automated software to track the usage of the company’s resources and information in order to limit the information access and organization’s network infrastructure. Moreover, it’s essential to secure to take information security of branch offices as critically as corporate headquarters.