Remote Access: First Corporate Line of Defense against H1N1

Since the "Swine Flu" can infect a person at any moment, many companies have beefed up their remote access capabilities to enable their employees to work from home in the case of sudden illness.

More specifically, remote access technologies provide companies with secure access to applications from any location. These applications can be retrieved using a number of Internet-ready devices and enable IT administrators to enforce security and information usage policies. These policies are then used to ensure that the devices connected to a corporate network from a remote location meet internal security requirements.

Remote Access: Next Best Thing

While accessing confidential documents from home is more arduous than being at the office, with the severity and likeliness of the H1N1 virus spreading from person-to-person, remote access technology is the next best thing.

Much of the increased interest is stemming from government agencies and big enterprises. For these companies, planning is the first real defense against the virus.

"Token" System Surges

This is not the first time secure access technologies have seen an increase in interest resulting from Swine Flu fears. Last spring, when H1N1 pandemic concerns were at their peak in Mexico, SecurID authentication token services experienced a great surge in finances. (Source: computerworld.com)

The RSA tokens enable a company to implement two-factor authentication for accessing enterprise networks and applications. Many companies provide these tokens to workers who log in to company networks from remote locations.

Many expect this year to be horrendous in terms of workforce attendance. Market research firm Gartner Inc., in a report published earlier this year, said companies involved in pandemic planning should assume that 40% of their workforce will not be at their workplace for an extended period of time. (Source: infoworld.com)

Supporting such a large percentage of remote workers might be a challenge for many companies, because telecommunications carriers could get overwhelmed as their network bandwidth approaches capacity with more people working from home.

Experts say companies need to include a variety of strategies to combat this "flu season" and not rely exclusively on RSA work-from-home technologies.