5 Tips to Make Watchguard VPN Access Secured!

Watchguard VPN

If your company has transitioned to a remote work from home model, then chances are your employees need to have access to the company’s Watchguard VPN MFA in order to perform their work and access company data.

Keeping your network secure is trickier than ever because remote work poses a bunch of cybersecurity risks that were not there when employees were in the office. 

Here are 5 tips to protect your Watchguard VPN.

1. Use the strongest method of MFA solution possible 

Multi-factor authentication can be protected with many options. The most common ways are with an authenticator app as it is one of the easiest and cheapest solutions to implement to your vpn.

Hardware tokens and security keys are also popular as they are a physical device that employees can carry with them no matter where they are. The more sophisticated methods would include biometric authentication such as facial recognition and fingerprint.

All of these methods work very well in securing your VPN, it’s just a matter of what your company can afford and which one will provide you with the best protection.

2. Implement and enforce a strong password policy

A username and password paired with multi-factor authentication is your best bet when protecting yourself from cyberattacks. But that doesn’t mean you should sacrifice your password just because you have MFA in place. Your vpn is only as secure as your weakest password. This is why companies should be enforcing the use of strong passwords in addition to MFA. 

A strong password should consist of a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols that are presented in a way that is not easily guessable. Try to avoid using your name, a family member’s name, or a typical number sequence such as 123456. 

3. Secure remote wireless networks

Employees that work from home will often use personal laptops, or laptops connected to a cable through their own wireless access point. The issue with this is that most wireless routers are not configured to be secure which can pose risks to cyber attacks. It would be beneficial for the company to teach their employees how to secure their network so they are fully protected. 

If employees don’t have their own personal firewalls or are working from an unsecured network, then hackers can still gain access to the company’s information through the stored data in the wireless network. 

4. Use a killswitch

A killswitch will drop the internet condition on your device if the VPN connection fails. If the VPN connection fails and you don’t have a kill switch in place, then your true IP address would be visible, and reveal your true location and identity. 

With a kill switch, your internet connection will be blocked entirely if there’s a problem with the VPN, which keeps your identity hidden. 

5. Stop DNS leaks

When using a VPN, you connect to the internet through the DNS server provided by your VPN. Sometimes what happens is your default DNS server might show up when you go online. 

If you see the DNS of your VPN, then it is not leaking and you’re good to go. However, if you see your true DNS, then you should contact your VPN provider as this can be a serious problem in the long run with cyber attackers. 

Maintaining your network security consists of a vigilant effort from your IT department. If you choose the right VPN for your business then you won’t have to worry about being vulnerable to cyber attacks. By implementing these 5 security measures to your VPN, you can ensure that you are extra protected against cyber attacks. It’s recommended that you protect your VPN as best you can to limit the amount of account exposure your company will have. 

Watchguard VPN article and permission to publish here provided by Morgan Johnson. Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published on November 20, 2022.