One of the greatest fears behind the adoption of remote access solutions is the possibility of a creating a security breach in an already well functioning IT infrastructure.  These fears are not unfounded, there are reports of security breaches in IT infrastructures being created by the deployment of remote solutions and companies have reason to be a little afraid when adopting these products and services.

But whose fault is it? Many product developers believe that the burden is mainly on the user, that wrong decisions and improper use weaken the infrastructure, that it is up to the IT department to make sure that the infrastructure is truly secure. They say that if their product is poorly handled then it is doomed to fail, despite all the technical innovations they implemented to make their solution more secure. They claim that it is much like a car, with its seat belts, airbags, blind spot sensors and anti-lock brakes, being driven off a cliff.

But what’s wrong with this analogy? What’s wrong with it is that it is extreme. If you’re driving off a cliff then, in truth, there is no technical innovation that might save you, but the fact is that most car accidents happen on the street and not driving off cliffs. In normal circumstances, technical innovations make the difference and do save lives.

By comparing users to mad drivers jumping off cliffs, product providers are really saying that they have no responsibility at all if anything bad happens, they’re saying it is the user’s fault. The truth is that users aren’t blameless, especially when they choose solutions with almost no security measures, but product providers share part of the fault as well.

One only has to look at SaaS (software as a service) remote access solutions to understand that these put the users at risk, since these remote connections pass through third party servers over which the user has no control whatsoever.

Then there are other solutions, such as on-premise appliance products, which put the user back in control. More than SaaS-based solutions’ protection measures, which are customary SSL and proprietary encryption systems, on-premise remote access appliance adds another level of security protection by allowing users to deploy the appliance behind the firewall. In addition, users keep all of their remote access sessions data, sreen recordings, and audit conversations logs on-premise, eliminating the security risks of SaaS-based remote access tools that pass sensitive data through a third-party server. Appliance also offers LDAP integration with identity management solutions, to ensure only authorized users can remotely access computers and provide unattended remote access service.

These protective measures, just like the airbags, seat belts, blind spot sensors and anti-lock brakes in the cars, increase data security and prevent outside data breaches. On-premise appliance is also very easy to implement and requires little or no IT maintenance. It helps IT departments keep the whole system under their watchful eyes.