telecommuting:

In this review we are not so concerned with remote access as such, but more with the security and ease of use for the teleworker; a growing breed of employee. But this still means a high level of control and security.

Putting a firewall in the home office should be a natural thing to do. After all, you are not only protecting your user but also the data that they will be working on, and probably holding, on their machine. This security is just as important as the security in the main office, as liability on data and business-critical information could otherwise be breached with ease. This is where a small but powerful appliance from a developer with experience in both the enterprise and SOHO markets is going to come in very handy.

Either as a closed environment or as a service, Endeavors Technology's Magi Enterprise is a peer-to-peer security solution ideal for end users who have little or no experience with installing security solutions, but who are charged with telecommuting on a regular basis. From the administrator's viewpoint, removing any end-user problems can make the whole job of securing the data flow far easier.

This solution is again reliant on enterprise management, but for the teleworker who requires a standalone solution BlackICE PC Protection is still available. RealSecure Desktop Protector (formally known as BlackICE Agent for Workstations) is the enterprise version.

This hardware solution is suitable for both the hardened teleworker or a small office environment. It brings with it not only a stateful inspection firewall, but also the protection of a VPN. For the user logging into an enterprise, MD5 authentication comes into play. This ensures encrypted communications and also foils any attempt to steal the SonicWALL password.

We have looked at solutions that are purely based within the teleworker's domain, but we are also taking the view that some organizations of the larger variety may wish to impose server-based network and system security solutions on their remote users.

In the past we have looked at pcAnywhere, which has been a consistent runner in past telecommuting group tests. This time around Symantec has supplied its Client Security.