If you manage remote employees, your team needs five controls in place now: phishing-resistant multifactor authentication on every admin and sensitive account, encrypted and patched endpoints with no local admin rights, closed exposed RDP with logged and segmented remote access, tested offline backups paired with a written incident response plan, and recurring employee training.
TL;DR:
- Enforcing phishing-resistant MFA should be prioritized for all admin and sensitive accounts, with ongoing reports on compliance and exceptions tracked weekly.
- Full-disk encryption must be verified centrally on all devices, and local admin rights should be removed and replaced with privileged access management tools.
- Remote desktop ports should be audited, closed if unused, and logged for all connection attempts, while VPNs require MFA, segmentation, and regular patching.
- Backups should be stored separately from production, tested annually through full restores, and incident response plans must be current and exercised at least once per year.
- Employee training and remote device policies need to be documented and reinforced through onboarding and yearly refreshers, including phishing simulations.
- ✓Cybersecurity assessments
- ✓Managed IT services
- ✓Managed detection and response
- ✓Email security
Table of Contents
- Governance and Roles: Who Owns Remote-Work Security
- Identity and Endpoint Controls IT Must Enforce Now
- Secure Remote Access: VPN Hardening, RDP Risks, and Zero Trust
- Backups, Restore Testing, and Incident Response
- Telework Policies and Training That Make Controls Stick
- Controls for Vendors and MSPs With Remote Access
- A 0-90 Day Implementation Checklist With Owners
- What a Consultative Approach Changes About Execution
- How We Help SMBs Put This Checklist Into Practice
- FAQ
- Sources
Governance and Roles: Who Owns Remote-Work Security
A checklist without an owner is a wish list. Name a Security Program Manager, even if that person wears three other hats and require a monthly report to leadership covering key security metrics including MFA coverage, patch coverage, backup restore success, and privileged account MFA compliance.
Every exception needs a name attached to it. When a sales laptop skips encryption or a vendor account slips past MFA, someone owns the fix and a date to close it. Quarterly, pull your security KPIs into the same room as your business goals and ask whether they still match.
- Assign a named Security Program Manager with monthly reporting duties.
- Track MFA coverage, patch coverage, backup restore success, and privileged account compliance.
- Document who owns each exception and the deadline to remediate it.
- Review KPIs against business priorities every quarter.
Pro Tip: Put the KPI report on the same calendar invite as payroll or financial reviews. Security stops being optional when leadership sees it next to the numbers they already care about.
Our security responsibility guidance covers how this ownership structure plays out for small IT teams without a dedicated security hire.
Identity and Endpoint Controls IT Must Enforce Now
Start with multifactor authentication, and start with admins. CISA's guidance for small and medium businesses recommends requiring MFA for email, file storage, remote access, and any privileged or administrative account, with phishing-resistant methods like FIDO security keys preferred over SMS codes. Enrollment alone does not prove compliance: build a rolling report that flags recent hires, phone migrations, and service accounts, and assign someone to clear exceptions weekly. Our guide to rolling out MFA walks through a vendor-neutral timeline for getting there in four to eight weeks.
Endpoint hardening matters just as much. Full-disk encryption belongs on every laptop and mobile device, verified centrally rather than trusted on an honor system. Local admin rights on user workstations are a standing invitation for malware to spread, so move admin tasks to a privileged access management tool instead.
- Enforce MFA first on admin and sensitive-role accounts, then expand coverage.
- Enable and centrally verify full-disk encryption on every device.
- Remove local admin rights and route privileged tasks through PAM tools.
- Automate patching and prioritize fixes tied to known exploited vulnerabilities.
Fixing exposed Remote Desktop Protocol and unpatched VPNs is one of the most cited mitigations in CISA's ransomware guidance, which lists patching and MFA alongside zero-trust access as core defenses against lateral movement.
Secure Remote Access: VPN Hardening, RDP Risks, and Zero Trust
Exposed RDP remains one of the easiest doors into a small business network, and it should never face the open internet. Audit for exposed ports, close anything unused, and log every connection attempt. CISA's ransomware guide ties RDP exposure directly to ransomware incidents and recommends account lockouts and MFA as baseline fixes.
VPNs need the same scrutiny. Require MFA on every remote gateway, centralize the logs, and patch the VPN appliance itself on the same cycle as everything else.
- Audit and close exposed RDP ports, logging every attempted connection.
- Require MFA on VPNs and remote gateways with centralized logging and lockout policies, without specifying exact counts or thresholds.
- Segment networks so remote users reach only the resources their role requires.
- Pilot zero-trust or SASE/SSE approaches for your highest-risk users and vendors.
A joint CISA and NSA guide on modern network access makes the point plainly: VPN-only thinking falls short in higher-risk environments, and device-posture checks paired with segmentation close gaps that a VPN alone leaves open. Our own cloud security guidance covers configuration steps for teams moving critical workloads off a flat, VPN-only network.
Backups, Restore Testing, and Incident Response
A backup nobody has tested is a hope, not a plan. CISA's Cybersecurity Performance Goals call for storing backups separately from production systems, testing restores at least annually and keeping incident response plans current and drilled on the same schedule.
Assign a recovery owner for each critical system and document the recovery time and recovery point targets that owner is accountable for. A timed partial restore proves data integrity; a full restore test, run at least once a year, proves your recovery time assumptions hold up under pressure.
- Store backups apart from production systems and test both partial and full restores annually.
- Assign a named recovery owner and documented RTO/RPO targets per critical system.
- Keep an offline copy of the incident response plan and run a tabletop exercise yearly.
- Preserve logs and forensic evidence early, and loop in legal or communications support when needed.
Pro Tip: Treat a near-miss, like a blocked phishing attempt, as a free tabletop exercise. Walk through what would have happened if it succeeded while the details are still fresh.
Our incident response plan guide and our post on responding to a breach quickly both expand on the steps above, including how the FTC's breach response guidance frames evidence preservation and notification decisions.
Telework Policies and Training That Make Controls Stick
A control only works if employees know it exists. Write a telework policy that spells out which devices qualify, what tiered access looks like by role, and what home-network security should look like, including WPA2 or WPA3 encryption and changed default router credentials. The FTC's guidance on secure remote access recommends verifying a device meets these requirements before it connects, not after.
Training should start within the first ten days of onboarding and repeat annually, with phishing simulations built in rather than treated as a one-time slideshow.
- Define permitted devices, tiered access levels, and home-network requirements in writing.
- Require onboarding security training within 10 days and annual refreshers with phishing tests.
- Document who owns remediation when an employee fails an MFA or device health check.
Controls for Vendors and MSPs With Remote Access
Vendor and MSP accounts are a favorite target precisely because they often carry broad access with light oversight. Apply least privilege to every third-party account, restrict admin-level access to what the job actually requires, and disable anything sitting idle. CISA's guidance for MSPs and small businesses recommends dedicated, logged connections, such as a separate management VPN, with log exports feeding your own monitoring rather than relying solely on the provider's records.
- Apply least privilege and disable idle vendor or MSP accounts promptly.
- Require a dedicated, logged connection and export those logs to your own systems.
- Put security requirements and breach notification obligations directly in vendor contracts.
- Review third-party access on a regular, scheduled basis, not only after an incident.
Teams that handle customer data through remote staff should also check that coaching and call-review tools meet the same bar. OffBook's guidance on privacy-compliant sales coaching is a useful reference for building consent and data-handling practices into those workflows.
A 0-90 Day Implementation Checklist With Owners
Sequencing matters more than ambition here. Tackle the highest-risk gaps first and build outward.
- Days 0-7: Enforce MFA on admin accounts, identify and verify critical backups, close exposed RDP, and assign named owners to each task.
- Days 8-30: Roll out full-disk encryption fleet-wide, patch known exploited vulnerabilities, close MFA exceptions, and launch employee training.
- Days 30-90: Pilot network segmentation or zero-trust access for high-risk groups, run a full backup restore test, and hold a tabletop incident response exercise.
| Phase | Priority actions | Primary owner |
|---|---|---|
| 0-7 days | Admin MFA, backup verification, close RDP | Security Program Manager |
| 8-30 days | Full-disk encryption, patch KEV items, training launch | IT Manager |
| 30-90 days | Zero-trust pilot, full restore test, IR tabletop | Security Program Manager |
Our guide to cutting remote access risk breaks this same sequence down with real client timelines for teams that started from near zero.
What a Consultative Approach Changes About Execution
Checklists are easy to write and hard to finish. What usually stalls a remote-work security rollout is not a missing control, it is nobody owning the follow-through once the initial push loses momentum.
We have seen MFA adoption and restore testing move faster when a local team sits with an SMB's actual environment rather than handing over a generic template. Our secure remote access case work and incident response planning guide reflect that pattern: measurable targets, a named owner, and a short feedback loop beat a thick policy document nobody reads. If you want a second set of eyes on where your gaps are, our free cyber security assessment is a reasonable place to start.
— Greg
How We Help SMBs Put This Checklist Into Practice
Implementing every item on this list while running the rest of your business is a lot to carry alone. We built our managed IT and cybersecurity services around exactly this gap: a consultative, local team that handles MFA rollouts, patching, backup testing, and incident response planning so your IT staff is not doing it solo.
Our managed detection and response service adds continuous monitoring on top of the controls above, and our secure remote access projects are built to close exposed RDP and VPN gaps fast. We prioritize a direct, hands-on approach rather than a generic national service desk. Start with a free cyber security assessment or explore our end-to-end IT solutions to see where your current setup stands.
FAQ
What is the most important item on a remote work security checklist?
Phishing-resistant multifactor authentication on admin and sensitive accounts comes first, since CISA's small business guidance treats it as the baseline control before any other remote-access protection matters. Encrypted, patched endpoints and closed RDP ports follow close behind.
How often should we test backup restores?
Test restores regularly with full recovery exercises annually and partial restore tests more frequently to confirm data integrity. The CISA Cybersecurity Performance Goals set annual testing as the minimum standard for operational backups.
Is VPN access enough for secure remote work?
VPN access alone is not enough for higher-risk users or environments, according to a joint CISA and NSA guide on modern network access, which recommends pairing VPN with device-posture checks, segmentation, and a path toward zero-trust access. Treat VPN hardening as a floor, not the ceiling.
How do we control security risks from MSPs and vendors?
Apply least privilege to every vendor and MSP account, disable idle accounts, and require a dedicated, logged connection rather than shared credentials. CISA's MSP guidance also recommends exporting provider logs to your own systems so you can independently verify their activity.
How much does managed IT and cybersecurity support cost?
Pricing depends on the size of your environment and which services you need; current prices are available on the pricing page of our site. You can start with a free cyber security assessment through our end-to-end IT solutions page to get a specific figure.