An article published on the SDxCentral site in June 2023 titled Hybrid work: What does and doesn’t work (and how security is evolving) discusses emerging approaches to the hybrid working model that has become popular.

The article outlines different approaches that various large and medium-sized Enterprises are taking to hybrid working policies. They also highlight four IT and cybersecurity-related issues that many businesses are encountering.

• Flexible connectivity no matter where a user & device are located
• Consistent video conferencing provision
• Deliver robust cybersecurity
• Ensure that data connections get encrypted when people work remotely

Cloudbrink Hybrid Access as a Service (HAaaS) addresses the issues highlighted and the other key issue not discussed in the SDxCentral article – an in-office-like network performance.

1. Flexible connectivity no matter where a user & device are located - Cloudbrink HAaaS is agnostic regarding user location and how they connect. An app installed on endpoint devices establishes a connection to the Cloudbrink FAST edge network that has numerous points of presence in cloud data centers around the globe. Hybrid workers can connect using the same method irrespective of where they happen to be, and they will get the best network and application experience available over their current Internet connection. This is true for corporate offices, home broadband WiFi, and temporary access from hotels or other remote locations.

2. Consistent video conferencing provision - By using preemptive and accelerated packet recovery along with intelligent routing to choose the best network path available at each particular time, Cloudbrink HAaaS delivers a video conferencing application experience (and for other business apps) that will work reliably and constantly without any of the dreaded pixelations, and audio dropout’s participants often experience when using traditional remote access solutions.

3. Deliver robust cybersecurity - Cloudbrink’s HAaaS utilizes the latest TLS 1.3 protocol to ensure certificate-based security for all connections within the solution. Cybersecurity is a core part of the solution for endpoint devices via the Cloudbrink client, on the Fast edge mesh network access points, and servers in data centers. The architecture is designed with secure communication in mind, highlighting our dedication to a genuine zero-trust approach. The security in Cloudbrink’s HAaaS gets implemented through the:

1. Use of a Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) service that employs mutual TLS 1.3 to provide a robust and mature zero trust model.
2. Automated Moving Target Defense (AMTD) that includes rotating security certificates hourly instead of in months or years. The result is a significantly enhanced level of security and a reduced attack surface. Attackers have a much shorter window to exploit a given security certificate before it changes.
3. Every component in the Cloudbrink architecture uses dynamic PKI certificates for trusted TLS communication that hackers can’t intercept. These PKI certificates are automatically refreshed at frequent intervals to maintain the security posture. These features are entirely transparent to users as they are part of the core solution.

4. Ensure that data connections get encrypted when people work remotely - Cloudbrink connections from the Client to back-end servers get encrypted with TLS 1.3 at every step between nodes on the FAST edge networks that underpin HAaaS. You can read more about the encryption and TLS security built into HAaaS.

In addition to addressing the four issues highlighted in the SDxCentral article, the solution is ideal for any organization that needs to adapt to the current work landscape in which people want hybrid work and will be working remotely or in central and branch offices on variable schedules.

Cloudbrink HAaaS allows you to support this working model as it is a zero-trust access service that delivers a lightning-fast, in-office experience for the modern hybrid workforce. Unlike traditional ZTNA and VPN solutions that often trade security for user performance, frustrate employees, and slow productivity, HAaaS secures user connections and solves the end-to-end performance issues that frequently frustrate the hybrid worker.

Cloudbrink HAaaS is a software-only solution that delivers an optimal user experience. With HAaaS, legacy VPN and SD-WAN connectivity architectures are replaced by machine learning-based connectors that monitor local and regional connectivity across multiple global cloud regions. By using thousands of dynamic points of presence called FAST edges in Cloud data centers worldwide, Cloudbrink delivers an in-office equivalent experience with a 30x increase in application performance for remote workers. And it does this in a way that is invisible to end-users to provide them with a seamless experience.

Find Out More

HAaaS can revolutionize how your hybrid teams work and communicate. It’ll increase productivity, boost security, and make it easier for managers to attract and retain the staff they need now and into the future by enabling the working patterns that more and more people are demanding. Find out more on our website, and use the contact form at https://cloudbrink.com/contact/ to reach out and start a conversation about how Cloudbrink can help you deliver for your hybrid workforce.