- July 24, 2020
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Renuka Shahane
Remote working has transformed the business operations, the perception of productivity along with a total rehaul of the way enterprise security was maintained. VPN is a critical element to ensure security when employees work remotely and connect to the unknown, shared, and public networks. Virtual Private Network or VPN enables organizations to create a safe access path to corporate resources that are protected using a firewall. These resources are deliberately secured with a firewall, preventing access using a public network.
Enterprises who cannot extend secure private network access via LTE hotspots devices have to depend solely on VPN to ensure the corporate device and data are intact and are protected from malware attacks and other potential threats.
Read More: Mobile Threat Defense (MTD): What Companies Should Know
Scalefusion MDM extends multiple solutions that pave the way for a smooth transition from on-premise working to remote working- for security, productivity, employee engagement and collaboration. In this article, we will discuss how Scalefusion Android MDM can help in pushing VPN settings on Android devices used for remote work. The same setting configuration can be leveraged to push VPN settings for frontline workforce and field force that works outside of the corporate network perimeters.
Getting started:
The VPN configuration for managed Android devices is available for Afw- Android for Work or Android enterprise devices with Android 7.0 and above only.
To get started, sign up on Scalefusion, complete the Afw setup on the Scalefusion dashboard and enroll devices into Scalefusion MDM using the Afw setup. Create a device profile and apply it to the device on which VPN settings are to be configured.
Step #1
Navigate to the Enterprise section of the dashboard and choose the Play for Work apps option. Here, you can see all the apps that can be installed on your managed devices using Scalefusion.
Step #2
Now, search and select the VPN application of your choice. You can choose from apps like Cisco AnyConnect, SonicWall Mobile Connect, Pulse Secure and Palo Alto apps for configuring VPN settings on your managed devices.
Step #3
For example, let us choose the AnyConnect app by Cisco. You have to approve this app on the dashboard to get started. Click on the approve button and provide the necessary permissions to approve the application.
Step #4
You can now configure the app settings. This will help you gain better control over the app behavior on the device. You can add connection name, hostname, protocol, identity and certificates in the app configuration. You can learn more about configuring Cisco AnyConnect VPN for Android here.
Step #5
Publish the application on the device group/device/device profile. This step is necessary to further enable VPN settings. This app will now be auto-enabled on the device profiles that you publish it to.
Step #6
Navigate to the Device Management section of the dashboard. Select the profile on which you have published the VPN application. Click on edit profile to start configuring VPN settings on Android devices to which this profile is applied.
Step #7
Navigate to the restrictions section of the device profile and select VPN settings from the left menu. Now, select the app for Always ON VPN from the drop-down menu. We will be selecting the AnyConnect App. Enable or disable VPN lockdown. Update the profile settings to enable VPN on Android devices managed with the said device profile.
Scalefusion MDM empowers IT admins as well as employees to work remotely by connecting to a secure VPN administered and configured via the dashboard. The Always ON VPN configuration ensures that the employee can never turn off the VPN and connect to a public or a shared network to access work apps.
