Remote Work3 min readJune 7, 2026

Securing remote and hybrid work without slowing your team down

Hybrid work is now normal for Israeli SMBs — but the old assumption that everyone sits behind the office firewall no longer holds. Here is how to secure laptops, connections, and home networks without getting in your team's way.

#Remote Work#VPN#Endpoint Security#SMB

Hybrid and remote work is now ordinary for Israeli SMBs — staff move between the office, home, and the occasional café, often on a mix of company laptops and personal phones. The trouble is that most small-business security was designed for a world where everyone sat behind a single office firewall, and that assumption no longer holds. The good news is that securing distributed work does not require enterprise tooling; it requires shifting protection from the network to the device and the identity, and making the secure path the easy one.

The Office Perimeter Is Gone

When work happened only on desktops inside the office, the firewall at the door did a lot of the heavy lifting. Today the same work runs on a laptop on a home Wi-Fi network and a phone on cellular data, far outside that perimeter. Continuing to rely on the office firewall as your main line of defense leaves most of your actual activity unprotected. The modern model assumes the network is untrusted and protects each device and each login on its own merits.

Secure the Connection: VPN and Conditional Access

Anything that still lives on your internal network — a file server, a line-of-business application — should be reached through a VPN that requires MFA, never exposed directly to the internet. For the cloud services most SMBs now run on, such as Microsoft 365, the equivalent control is Conditional Access: require MFA, and where possible restrict sign-ins to managed, compliant devices. Above all, never leave Remote Desktop (RDP) open to the internet — it is one of the most heavily scanned and abused entry points for ransomware.

Secure the Device, Not Just the Network

With the perimeter gone, the laptop itself becomes the front line. Company devices should have full-disk encryption, EDR rather than basic antivirus, automatic updates, and a short screen-lock timeout as standard. Where employees use personal devices for work, set a clear BYOD policy that defines the minimum protections required and keeps company data containerized rather than scattered across personal phones. A lost or stolen laptop should be an inconvenience, not a breach.

Public Wi-Fi and Home Networks

Untrusted networks are a daily reality for remote staff, and a little guidance goes a long way. Encourage the use of the VPN on any network you do not control, including café and hotel Wi-Fi. At home, the basics matter: keep the router firmware updated, change the default admin password, and use a strong Wi-Fi passphrase. These are small habits, but they close off the easy opportunistic attacks that target people working outside the office.

Make the Secure Way the Easy Way

Security that gets in the way gets bypassed. If signing in is painful, employees will find workarounds that quietly undo your controls. Single sign-on reduces the number of passwords people juggle, a password manager handles the rest, and a short, plain-language policy tells everyone what is expected without burying it in jargon. When the secure path is also the convenient path, compliance stops being a battle.

Where to Start

If your team works from anywhere but your security still assumes they are in the office, that mismatch is where the risk lives. NetFortress helps Israeli SMBs secure remote and hybrid work end to end — device protection, MFA and Conditional Access, secure remote connectivity, and clear policy that employees can actually follow. Book a free consultation and we will review where distributed work leaves your business exposed.

Frequently asked questions

Why isn't our office firewall enough anymore?

Because most of your work no longer happens behind it. Staff run the same systems on laptops over home Wi-Fi and phones on cellular data, far outside the office perimeter. The modern model assumes the network is untrusted and protects each device and each login on its own merits.

How should remote staff connect securely?

Anything still on your internal network should be reached through a VPN that requires MFA, never exposed directly to the internet. For cloud services like Microsoft 365, use Conditional Access to require MFA and, where possible, restrict sign-ins to managed devices. Never leave Remote Desktop (RDP) open to the internet.

How do we secure the laptops themselves?

With the perimeter gone, the device is the front line. Company laptops should have full-disk encryption, EDR rather than basic antivirus, automatic updates, and a short screen-lock timeout. A lost or stolen laptop should be an inconvenience, not a breach.

What about personal devices and home networks?

Set a clear BYOD policy defining the minimum protections required and keep company data containerised rather than scattered across personal phones. Encourage VPN use on any untrusted network, and remind staff to update router firmware, change default admin passwords, and use a strong Wi-Fi passphrase at home.

How do we keep security from slowing the team down?

Make the secure way the easy way. Single sign-on reduces the number of passwords people juggle, a password manager handles the rest, and a short, plain-language policy sets expectations. When the secure path is also the convenient one, employees stop inventing workarounds that undo your controls.

Risk Management6 min read

The vendors with keys to your business: managing supply-chain risk

Your security is only as strong as the suppliers and software you connect to your business. Here is how an Israeli SMB can manage third-party and supply-chain risk without a procurement department.

Read article

Incident Response6 min read

Your first 24 hours after a breach: an incident response plan for SMBs

When you discover a breach, the worst time to decide what to do is in the middle of it. Here is how an Israeli SMB can build a simple, practical incident response plan before it is needed.

Read article

Security Awareness6 min read

Your employees are your firewall: security awareness training that works

Most breaches at Israeli SMBs start with a person, not a piece of malware. Here is how to turn your team from the softest target into a genuine line of defense — without dull annual slideshows.

Read article