Summary: Confused about securing your remote team? We break down the top secure remote access options for businesses, explain the challenges, and give you clear best practices to follow.
Your team connects to sensitive company resources from everywhere: home offices, client sites, and travel hubs. That flexibility is great for productivity, but it presents a serious security challenge: how can you ensure a secure network connection at a remote site every time they log in?
If you're still relying on traditional security methods-like legacy VPNs-you're likely struggling to balance easy, fast access with strong protection for your company's data. This guide is designed to cut through the jargon.
We'll show you what effective remote access security actually looks like, break down your best modern options (like Zero Trust Network Access), and give you clear, actionable steps to reduce risk without slowing your business down.
Simply put, remote access security is the collection of technologies, protocols, and policies that govern how remote users connect to your internal corporate network and access sensitive data. It's the critical practice that keeps your business running while protecting it from the risks inherent in remote work.
For many years, the industry standard was the Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN works by creating an encrypted tunnel between the user's device and the network perimeter, essentially extending the office network to the remote user. While this offered a secure connection, security as a concept has evolved dramatically. Today, relying only on a traditional VPN often creates serious security risks. Why? Because once a user is in the network, they often have excessive access. It's an "all or nothing" approach that doesn't fit a modern security model.
Effective secure remote access solutions are now focused on giving authorized users only the specific resources they need, and nothing more. This shift from perimeter-based defense (like the old VPN) to an identity-based model is the foundation of modern network security. The goal is always the same: enabling users to be productive while securing your business against data breaches.
Why put effort into sophisticated secure remote access solutions? It really comes down to protecting three core aspects of your business.
Every time a remote user connects, they are potentially handling your company's crown jewels: financial records, client lists, or intellectual property (your sensitive data). If a connection isn't properly protected, that data is exposed. Most data breaches begin with compromised credentials used to gain unauthorized remote access.
A solid remote access security strategy acts as a continuous shield, enforcing security best practices like strong access controls and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to significantly reduce those security risks. Simply put, it ensures your data stays exactly where it should be: secure.
Think of it this way: if your network gets hit with a ransomware attack or a major breach because of a weak access point, your business stops. Systems go down, employees can't work, and you lose revenue. Strong secure remote access is an insurance policy for uptime.
By implementing modern access controls-like those used in Zero Trust-you limit the potential damage if a single device is compromised. This keeps operations smooth, ensures users can always get their job done securely, and prevents one small lapse from becoming a full-blown crisis.
If your business operates in a regulated industry (like healthcare, finance, or government contracting), you simply have to prove that your remote access methods are compliant with standards like HIPAA, GDPR, or SOC 2. These regulations often require specific levels of encryption, audit trails, and granular control over who accesses sensitive data.
Relying on an outdated VPN that lacks proper logging and control can lead to huge fines and penalties. Modern secure remote access solutions provide the auditability and control necessary to easily demonstrate your commitment to a strong remote access security posture. It turns a compliance headache into a simple administrative step.
When it comes to allowing remote users to access your resources, you have options. But not all of them offer the same level of remote access security. For businesses in a modern, distributed environment, you need to know which tools are actually helping and which are leaving you exposed.
This is the current gold standard. ZTNA is a framework that operates on the principle of "Never trust, always verify." Instead of granting access to an entire network (like a traditional VPN), ZTNA grants users access only to specific resources,after verifying both identity and device health.
ZTNA integrates security features like multi-factor authentication (MFA) directly into the access workflow, checking credentials continuously. It dramatically reduces the potential attack surface because cybercriminals can't "hop" from one compromised area to another.
For resources hosted in the cloud (like Microsoft 365, Salesforce, or Google Workspace), access is typically secured by the platform itself, using features like SAML, MFA, and strong identity management.
While this is great for cloud apps, it doesn't help you secure access to resources on your private infrastructure. This is why ZTNA is crucial: it bridges the security gap between cloud-based applications and on-premise systems.
Let's be real: enabling remote work introduces specific headaches that you simply don't deal with in a traditional office. Knowing what they are is half the battle when setting up solid remote access security.
The number one challenge is compromised user accounts. If a remote user has a weak or reused password, it's a serious liability. Cybercriminals spend all their time targeting login credentials because once they have a valid username and password, they can bypass many of your core defenses. This risk is drastically reduced when you enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA), but getting every single employee to adopt and use it reliably is often a deployment challenge in itself.
As we touched on earlier, many legacy remote access solutions grant excessive permissions. The classic example is the traditional VPN: once you're on the VPN, you often have access to systems you don't actually need. If that single account is compromised, the attacker now has a wide-open path across your network. This massive attack surface is why many businesses are ditching the old "castle-and-moat" security model for something more granular.
You can't control the security of every device your employees use at home. Maybe their personal laptop has an outdated operating system, or maybe they just haven't run an antivirus scan in months. When these unmanaged, potentially vulnerable devices connect to your network, they can easily introduce malware, becoming an unwitting entry point for an attacker.
Implementing strict device health checks before granting access is now one of the most important security best practices for modern remote teams.
If you only implement one thing, make it this. Multi-factor authentication stops most credential theft attempts cold. Instead of just a password, users must verify their identity using a second factor-like a code from their phone.
This is a security standard that essentially says users should only be granted the minimum level of access necessary to do their job, and nothing more. If your marketing manager doesn't need to access the accounting server, their credentials should not allow it.
This isn't a product; it's a strategy. Zero Trust is the foundation of modern remote access security. It means you stop trusting anyone or anything by default, regardless of whether they are inside or outside your network perimeter. Every request for access must be verified. This involves continuously checking the user's identity, device health, and the specific application they are trying to reach.
Your endpoints-the laptops, phones, and tablets your team uses-are your front lines. Endpoint hardening involves making sure these devices have basic security fundamentals: up-to-date operating systems, required anti-virus protection, and necessary security settings. The ability to see who accessed what, when, and from where is non-negotiable for diagnosing problems and meeting compliance.
We all know password fatigue is real. SSO solves this by letting users log in once to a centralized identity provider, which then grants them access to all approved applications. This reduces the number of passwords users need to manage, which, surprisingly, makes them less likely to use weak or recycled passwords. It also centralizes control, so when an employee leaves, IT can cut off access to every single service instantly.
You now know the difference between outdated remote access and modern security best practices. The final step is moving from theory to execution. You don't need a collection of complicated tools. You need a single, unified platform built on the Zero Trust model. That's what NordLayer provides.
NordLayer brings all these components together, allowing you to quickly move your business beyond the basic VPN to an advanced, future-proof remote access security solution.
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is currently considered the most secure method. It verifies every user and device continuously, granting access only to the specific application needed-not the entire network.
A well-configured VPN is generally more secure than Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), as RDP is a frequent target for hackers when exposed to the public internet. However, both are less secure than a modern ZTNA solution.
For traditional remote access, IPsec and SSL/TLS protocols are commonly used within VPNs. For modern, faster access, protocols like WireGuard (which NordLayer's NordLynx is based on) are preferred, especially when combined with a Zero Trust framework.
No, a traditional VPN is not enough for today's remote work environment. While it encrypts traffic, it fails to verify the device's health or limit a user's access across the network, leaving your organization vulnerable to excessive permissions and lateral threat movement.
Aistė Medinė
Editor and Copywriter
An editor and writer who’s into way too many hobbies – cooking elaborate meals, watching old movies, and occasionally splattering paint on a canvas. Aistė's drawn to the creative side of cybercrime, especially the weirdly clever tricks scammers use to fool people. If it involves storytelling, mischief, or a bit of mystery, she’s probably interested.
Subscribe to our blog updates for in-depth perspectives on cybersecurity.
