With the remote workforce continuing its increase, businesses need solutions for supporting remote employees and screen sharing. Whether to troubleshoot PC issues with tech support or accessing a PC from home on a Saturday, most would agree that remote access is convenient. Credit unions also typically partner with external technology vendors to offer advanced services that are propelling credit union growth. As is the case with any technology, support is inevitable, and every vendor uses a different way for remote PC access to troubleshoot issues. This leaves many asking: How does remote access impact cybersecurity at my credit union?
Essentially, remote desktop connectivity is as safe as you make it. The main thing is to ensure those who are using remote access are those who you’ve granted permission to and are trusted credit union software vendors. There have been scams where an attacker, posing as a help desk rep from Microsoft or other vendor, will call and prey upon employees. End user training is key, as in most every aspect of cybersecurity.
Remote help desks and tech support use a number of options for remote access into a PC, some more secure than others, some more convenient than others. LogMeIn or VNC, for example, use open ports and require an open port on the firewall, and are considered to be one of the most secure options available. Teamviewer, on the other hand, is generally perceived as less secure but easy to use and therefore, very popular. Windows has a built-in solution, Remote Desktop Protocol, which is good but only works when you are on the same domain (so for in-house help desk support or remoting into a workstation from another PC in your network).
Outside of remote help desk support, there are other options to view resources housed a computer located in another location. Thanks to Office 365 and it's integration with Skype for Business, many people now use the tool to easily do screen shares with coworkers. GoToMyPC has been around for a long time and is widely used for executives to log into resources on their credit union computer when working from home over the weekend or on the road. These are simply a few examples but many options exist.
Remoting into a computer is becoming a necessity and a very convenient one at that. Whether it be used for program or file access to credit union resources, or for a support rep to more accurately and quickly diagnose and address an issue, there are options available that shouldn't scare you when it comes to credit union cybersecurity. User education, common sense, and working with trusted credit union software vendors is essential in all aspects of IT security, and this is no exception.
