Remote working and security

Home office work during Covid-19 and after

Many companies had to quickly set up VPN access due to Covid 19 so that work could be done from the home office. Some were better prepared and had already established 'the modern way of working' with Microsoft Office 365 or Google Workspace.

Even after the pandemic, about half of office workers still want the option of working from home. They appreciate this flexibility in terms of location and time.

The company leadership sees the benefits of this 'way of working' and wants to establish cost savings in office workplaces and therefore want to establish hybrid working and desk sharing.

Collaboration with Microsoft Teams

The use of collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams enables productive work in the home office.

Microsoft Teams enables digital communication in digital team rooms, channels, chats, video telephony, documents, apps, etc. Members and guests (outside the company) can be invited to meetings and can also participate via browser.

Meetings can be optimized by sharing the screen, with notes and drawings in the digital whiteboard, meetings can be also recorded and transcribed.

Apps on Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)

Up to now, home office employees have mostly used virtual private networks (VPN) or remote desktop services (RDS) to access the internal network.

Connection quality and security of the VPN connection and the RDS server require an intense support. The costs are also enormous for VPN and RDS-Cals licenses alone.

AVD is deployed in Azure Cloud as a virtual machine (VM) and comes with Windows 10/11 Enterprise multi-session capabilities. License costs are already included in several Microsoft 365 subscriptions, including Microsoft 365 Business Premium.

AD and AzureAD are natively supported, so users can log in as usual with the same credentials as Microsoft 365. Office 365 applications are also installed by default.

Compared to the on-premises RDS server there are the following advantages:

• Higher security, Microsoft Gateway (PaaS), open RDP port not necessary
  
• Low cost, RDS CALs not required, Windows license included
  
• Better flexibility so employees can connect from anywhere and any device via the web
  
• Better compatibility with apps that do not run on server versions, since it is Windows 10/11
  
• Better scalability, several VMs in the pool can be grouped together (cluster), e.g. Mon-Fri 3 VMs, on weekends only one VM
  
• VPN is no longer necessary, MFA available...more information
  

Device management with Intune

Microsoft Intune is a fully cloud-based solution for managing devices and applications on Windows, macOS, Linux, smartphones and tablets (iOS and Android).

Intune enables administrators to enforce device security and compliance. Intune Autopilot enables automated setup of new Windows 10/11 devices, including apps, so users can get them up and running.

Since March 2023, Microsoft Intune is available in 3 versions: Intune Plan 1, Intune Plan 2 and Intune Suite. Microsoft Intune P1 ist enthalten in Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Mobility + Security E3.

Devices and apps protection with Defender

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is an advanced security solution designed specifically to protect endpoints such as PCs, laptops, servers, and mobile devices.
Formerly known as Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), is designed to protect organizations from a wide range of threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, phishing attacks and other cyber threats.

Microsoft Defender is available in 3 versions:

• Defender for Endpoint P1, included in Microsoft 365 E3
  
• Defender for Endpoint P2, included in Windows E5 and Microsoft 365 E5
  
• Microsoft Defender for Business, included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium