THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF A BLOG SERIES CREATED BY THE PETRI IT KNOWLEDGEBASE TEAM AND TECHNICAL WRITER MICHEAL OTEY, SPONSORED BY DEVOLUTIONS.
Windows Remote Desktop Connection is one of the administrators most commonly used tools. It can provide remote desktop access to all the different Windows Server systems that are part of your local network or in the cloud. Properly securing your Remote Desktop Connections is vital because of the far-reaching access and capability that Remote Desktop Connection has. Enterprise solutions such as Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager can also help you secure and manage your Remote Desktop Connections. In this post, I’ll cover some of the best practices for manually securing your Remote Desktop Connections.
Use Strong Passwords
Passwords are your first line of defense in securing your corporate infrastructure and that is just as true for Remote Desktop Connection as it is for your traditional desktop environment. All accounts with access to Remote Desktop Connections need to require strong passwords. You can require strong passwords in your domain using the Group Policy \Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\Passwords must meet complexity requirements.
Don’t Save Login Credentials in Your RDP Files
Saving your remote login credentials is a feature of Remote Desktop Connection that can make your connections to remote systems faster and easier by enabling you to log into the remote system by using the saved credentials. However, this can also be a potential security exposure because it bypasses the remote login. To always require a login to the remote system to edit the RDP file, click the General tab, then select the Always ask for credentials check box.
Limit Administrators Who Don’t Need Remote Desktop
All administrators can use Remote Desktop Connection by default. However, if not all your administrators need access to Remote Desktop, then you should consider removing the Administrator account from RDP access. To do that you can use Administrative Tools to open Local Security Policy. Under Local Policies, open User Rights, then Allow logon through Remote Desktop Services. Remove the Administrators group. Then use the System control panel to add just the users and Administrators requiring Remote Desktop access to the Remote Desktop Users group.
