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"How to Secure RDP Port"
This article provides a deep dive into securing your RDP ports, tailored for the tech-savvy IT professional.
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A higher percentage than ever of computer users are now informed enough to know they must have security products deployed in order to protect their computers.
In the case of corporate users, the IT staff makes sure their gateway is stacked with the latest and greatest security appliances protecting the perimeter. In the case of home users, the users themselves make sure to install security software, typically a combination of personal firewall, antivirus and anti-spam. Or a single streamlined Internet Security Suite.
In both cases, the solution is simply not good enough! But TSplus has a way.
How Safe is my IT Set-up?
We’ll start by explaining why security software running on top of the computer it aims to protect will always be inferior to an external hardware solution.
The following points are well known to IT professionals. They would obviously never rely on software installed on users’ computers alone. Also, they will always focus on the hardware-based security appliances protecting the organization’s perimeter.
Hardware Protection for a Safe Network
The advantages of external hardware-based security appliances are:
Immunity from the inherent vulnerabilities of the underlying OS
If, for instance, an organization is running MS Windows on all its computers, the security software installed on the computer will still suffer from the same underlying vulnerabilities and backdoors that Windows inherently has. When you are protected by an external appliance which has its own proprietary OS (or similar), the security mechanism does not suffer from these vulnerabilities.
Mobile code is not run
Content arriving from the internet is not executed on these appliances it just goes or does not go through into the network. This makes it more difficult to attack as the mobile code delivered by the hackers does not run on the appliances.
Cannot be uninstalled
Security attacks often start by targeting the security software, while trying to uninstall it or stop its activity. Software-based security solutions, as any software program, includes an uninstall option that can be targeted. In contrast, hardware-based security appliances cannot be uninstalled as they are hard coded into the hardware.
Non-writable Memory
Hardware-based solutions manage the memory in a restricted and controlled manner. The security appliances can prohibit access to its memory, providing greater protection against attacks on the security mechanism.
Controlled by IT personnel
Security appliances are controlled by IT, who constantly maintain the highest security policies and updates.
Performance
Security appliances are optimized for maximum security and operate independently from computers in the network, not degrading the performance of the desktops or consuming their resources.
Prevent potential software conflicts
The security application you install on your computer will reside on the same computer with an unknown amount of other unknown software all using the same CPU, memory, OS and other resources. This often results in various conflicts, “friendly fire” between 2 or more unrelated security application installed on the same computer etc. When using a dedicated hardware security appliance, nothing runs except for the intended use it was made for.
Hardware Better than Software Alone
So closed networks based on hardware solutions guard against these general conceptual problems. Protecting a computer with the exclusive reliance on an installed software security application seems to be insufficient.
There’s a lot more to be said about the problems with software-only solutions. The lack of Network Address Translation (as you’d get in a dedicated external hardware-based security appliance), lack of physical network separation (DMZ), the fact that even simple ARP poisoning attack cannot be stopped by them and much, much more.
Current Security Solutions Insufficient?
Since we’ve clearly established that using software-based security applications is not the ideal security solution, why do so many rely on it? What is wrong with the hardware based security that Corporate Users get? Especially when the IT staff does make sure their gateway is stacked with the latest and greatest security appliances to protect their perimeter. It would appear that that would remain the best way to go. So where is the problem?
What is the Problem with Closed Networks?
The answer to that is simple – Mobility .
More and more of the corporate users actually have laptops and no desktop computers. More and more users are becoming mobile, working remotely from outside the organization, working from home, or are simply on the road traveling as part of their business duties.
Downfall of the Hardware Solution: Opening a Door
The minute the user packs up his laptop and leaves the protected (by a series of dedicated hardware security appliances) organizational perimeter – all the amount of money and professional effort that went into building up the corporate gateway, all of that becomes meaningless!
The user has left the corporate protection behind and is left essentially “naked” only with the software security solution as his sole protection. And we’ve already established above it is no longer enough.
How To Secure Remote Access?
So, where to turn? What can be done to secure connections that so easily leave the back door open?
To start with, as part of TSPlus Remote Access and Remote Work software bundles, we offer 2FA to add minimum extra security in the form of a code used in addition to the standard password. Then we developed TSplus Advanced Security . We pride ourselves that our remote access software is one step closer to being highly secure than the average product on the market, because with TSplus Remote Access or our other software, your company data does not leave the safe perimeter behind your firewall. For the said firewall to remain unscalable, 2FA and TSplus Advanced Security were essentially common sense.
Lock the Weakest Points for All-round Protection
This way the powerful corporate-level security can be re-instated even as the user is away from the protected corporate perimeter, allowing the distant user maximum performance and productivity (by offloading it and using external security applications, instead of device-installed ones), giving them the highest possible level of security. It also allows the IT department the means to monitor and enforce security policies over remote and traveling laptops without being intrusive to their users!
TSplus Advanced Security will protect your network, whatever makes it up. You can try and test our software for 15-days for free.
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