7 Tips for Designing a Network for Hybrid Work
It’s difficult enough to design a network that can be secured in a single building. What if your employees are everywhere? What if they’re connecting to your network through every personal device and every work device they have?
7 Tips for Hybrid Network Architecture
A hybrid network should be developed from scratch, as should its policies and procedures. Working in a completely remote scenario with individuals from all over the world is, in some respects, simpler than working with global employees and people in the office.
1. Create strict structures for onboarding and off-boarding.
It’s easier to get started right the first time. When people onboard, make sure they go through security training — even if they’re remote. When they off-board, their accounts need to be frozen immediately; in fact, this should usually happen before they’re actually off-boarded. By creating these strict structures from the beginning, you can ensure that people don’t end up with permissions that they shouldn’t have, and that they have an idea of what’s expected of them.
2. Develop a mobile device policy.
Mobile devices are where most of your employees are going to spend most of their time. Laptops, tablets, phones — most people don’t actually spend time on a desktop computer today. Not only does your network need a written mobile device policy, but it should have established mobile device management. Office 365 EM+S provides complete mobile device management solutions, featuring integration with the rest of the Office 365 ecosystem.
3. Consider accessibility and security first.
You need to create a network that is accessible from anywhere. That means you have to build your infrastructure, from scratch, on top of technology that supports cloud collaboration. Office 365 is a universal collaboration solution that includes groundbreaking technologies like MS Teams — and Microsoft is committed to continually improving this infrastructure. With Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Azure, you can start developing a network for hybrid work from the foundation up.
4. Use multi-factor authentication and single-sign-on services.
Ultimately, authentication has to be two things: secure and easy to use. If it’s not easy to use, it’s not secure. Employees will do anything they can to get around something that’s difficult to secure, including breaking the technology altogether. Multi-factor authentication ensures that people are who they say they are, even if their devices are stolen, and even if they try to give their passwords to other employees. Further than that, single-sign-on services mean that employees don’t need to worry about multiple passwords and authentication systems, and IT only needs to maintain the security of a single system.
5. Focus on the development of collaborative spaces.
Collaborative spaces, such as Zoom, Slack, MS Teams and more, need to be integrated with the overall network and properly secured. Users are going to need to connect with remote team members just as they might connect with their in-person coworkers. This also means that they need to have a secured method of doing so. If they don’t have a secured video conferencing suite, for instance, they’re just going to use Zoom, or just call through Apple or Google.
6. Always use zero-trust policies.
Zero-trust policies are the best policies. Users should not be able to access anything unless they are required to be able to access them. By invoking zero trust policies, you ensure that less of your system will be breached in the event that their account is breached. Additionally, it saves you from the potential ramifications of either negligence or malicious action; no one employee can accidentally delete all the files across a network. Zero-trust policies are more common now.
7. Have strict controls on end-user devices.
Business devices should be under the control of the IT department. Users shouldn’t be in charge of updating their software; they shouldn’t be able to connect to the network if their operating system and software isn’t updated. Likewise, they should all have security solutions installed on their network that report back to administration. Where possible, end users should always have separate devices for work rather than mixing their business and personal devices. If this isn’t possible, the network itself should silo all data and data should never have to be held on the end user device.
Designing a Network for Hybrid Work
A hybrid wireless network is a challenge to secure. Employees will be coming in and out of the office, working at home or even working in other countries. Hybrid network architecture has to be flexible, scalable and secure.
And it’s not a challenge that you need to tackle on your own.
If you’re trying to develop a hybrid network architecture, Red River can help. Contact Red River today to learn more about hybrid network design.
