In an effort to help secure company data on employee devices, AWS has announced a new product called Amazon WorkLink that gives users access to company intranet and internal web apps without sacrificing security.
The new fully managed service allows IT admins to provide employees with one-click access to internal sites for just $5 per month per user regardless of whether or not their running AWS.
Once WorkLink is installed on a user's device, employees can use any browser of their choice to navigate to an internal website. The service then uses a secure container to convert the site into an interactive vector graphic which is sent back to a user's smartphone.
What makes AWS' new product so appealing is the fact that nothing is stored or cached on the device. This makes mobile device management unnecessary since there is now no need to wipe an employee's smartphone if it is lost or stolen as there is no company data stored locally on the device.
Securely accessing internal content
A company's IT team can use either a VPN to connect from an AWS Private Cloud to on-premise servers or it can use AWS Direct Connect to forego a VPN all together.
Amazon WorkLink is compatible with all SAML 2.0 identity management providers such as Okta and Ping Identity and since the service is fully managed, it is able to handle scaling as well as any updates in the background.
Vice President of Productivity Applications at AWS, Peter Hill explained why the company developed its new solution in a press release, saying:
“When talking with customers, all of them expressed frustration that their workers don't have an easy and secure way to access internal content, which means that their employees either waste time or don't bother trying to access content that would make them more productive. With Amazon WorkLink, we're enabling greater workplace productivity for those outside the corporate firewall in a way that IT administrators and security teams are happy with and employees are willing to use.”
WorkLink will eventually be available for both Android and iOS but for now the app is only available on iOS and currently only works with Safari with support for Chrome coming in the next few weeks.
While AWS' new solution will protect company data from being cached on employee devices, pairing it with a VPN will provide the most complete security solution.
Via TechCrunch
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