Working remotely has been an ongoing challenge for businesses that were not prepared for the sudden change in the environment. Data security is perhaps one of the emerging concerns among organizations especially those that do not have any remote security posture in place.

Stephan Tallent, senior director, Managed Security Service Provider and Service Enablement, Fortinet shared in a blog post how companies can leverage security solutions to help their customers address key challenges with telecommuting.

Tallent said the current work setup “presents an opportunity for MSSPS (managed security service provider) to support their customers’ remote work initiatives while ensuring that they have programs in place that allow for ongoing business continuity.”

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“MSSPs should focus on providing customers with services that secure hosted applications and work-from-home users,” he said. “During these times of uncertainty, MSSPs can also offer insights to help customers scale their remote workforce without compromising security. This can be achieved by expanding their current SD-WAN, SD-Branch, and public cloud service offerings.”

Below are ways MSSPs can leverage security solutions to help their customers address key challenges with remote work.

Cloud Migration Security

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, people have gone online which accelerated the demand for cloud services. However, because everything was done in haste, some companies are unaware of the essentials in using the technology such as proper visibility, access control, or data protocols in place.

“Another area of concern is how customers transferred their workloads to the cloud,” Tallent said. Many relied on the “lift and shift” approach, which can result in long-term security and compliance issues. By offering their expertise in this area, MSSPs can help customers avoid potential vulnerabilities within cloud migrations.

Cloud Security Assessments as a Service

“When implementing cloud solutions, customers must be able to protect against the risks associated with application and infrastructure configuration and the use of APIs,” Tallent said. “The problem is that many organizations do not have access to the talent or resources needed to identify or address vulnerabilities in their cloud systems.”

He suggested that MSSPs offer cloud security assessments as a service. These assessments will determine the kind of data security, threat detection, and compliance processes, that MSSPs can provide their customers. It will also ascertain if having a posture management system in place enables customers to automate their remediation efforts and gives MSSPs a way to measure the value they add to customer deployments.

Ensuring Business Continuity with SD-WAN

“When working from home, customers are likely to rely on branch networks that may have not been secured to company standards,” Tallent said. “MSSPs can take advantage of this opportunity by leveraging SD-WAN combined with Fortinet switches and APs to enable security functionality within existing branch edge hardware. This will enhance work-from-home and branch security while also presenting customer executives with opportunities to lower costs.”

Tallent highlighted why SD-WAN and cloud connectivity solutions help in providing partners and MSSPs with opportunities to assist their customers looking to establish, maintain, or extend their remote workforce.

“With Fortinet, partners have access to the resources they need to establish integrated cloud and SD-WAN operations across their customers’ distributed networks,” he said. “By leveraging Fortinet teleworker solutions, partners and MSSPs can maximize their customers’ existing security infrastructure while also making additional network improvements where needed.”