Page 114 - Cyber Defense eMagazine August 2023

Secure Remote Access is Not a One Size Fits

All Vision

Unlocking the puzzle of OT security

By Kevin Kumpf, Cybersecurity Evangelist at Cyolo

Secure Remote Access (SRA) is a term that can be technologically defined in many ways, depending on
whom you talk to, from a customer or vendor role and through what “lens” they are looking. No matter
what the person’s role or perspective though, Secure Remote Access must be safe and secure, but
everything else that can encompass Secure Remote Access is truly open for discussion.

What is “Secure" Remote Access

“Secure” Remote Access by technical definition, is a combination of security processes / controls that
are designed to prevent unauthorized access to digital resources. Successfully implemented SRA,
however, does not just include the technology used to connect a user to a resource or even a resource
to a resource. The weakest link in any implementation of SRA is people.

In the recently published “State of Industrial Secure Remote Access (I-SRA)” report which surveyed
respondents from the Operational Technology (OT) space, 75% of the respondents overwhelmingly
acknowledged that threats to business operations were the biggest concern when dealing with any form

Cyber Defense eMagazine – August 2023 Edition 114
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