Vendors often need remote access to support accounting systems, production equipment, or industry-specific applications. That access may begin with a legitimate service request and remain in place long after the immediate work is finished. Over time, your business can lose track of who can connect.
Create an inventory of remote access methods. Include remote-support applications, VPN accounts, remote desktop services, and vendor-managed connections. Ask department leaders about arrangements made outside the main IT process. An account list alone may not reveal every installed access tool.
Assign a business owner to each connection. Record the vendor, purpose, systems involved, and whether access is occasional or ongoing. Someone inside your organization should be responsible for approving the relationship and confirming that the access is still needed.
Use individual identities where the platform supports them. Named accounts make it easier to understand who connected and to remove access when a vendor's employee changes roles. Protect access with MFA where available and avoid sharing broad administrator credentials for routine support.
Limit the scope to the work. A vendor maintaining one application does not automatically need unrestricted access to every server or workstation. Review permissions, network paths, and any required file transfers. Give elevated access only when justified and remove it when the task is complete.
Decide how connections will be monitored. Relevant logs should show useful details such as account, time, and destination, subject to the product's capabilities. Define who reviews suspicious activity and how long records are retained based on business needs. Logging without an owner can leave valuable evidence unnoticed.
Build expiration into temporary access. For ongoing support, schedule periodic review rather than assuming silence means the connection is still appropriate. When a contract ends, remove the accounts and tools involved after confirming that no active dependency will be disrupted.
Ask one practical question this month: could your team explain every remote path into its important systems? Contact InnerDigital to help inventory vendor access and create a support process with clear authorization and accountability.