What is Secure Vendor Remote Access?
Secure Vendor Remote Access is the controlled and auditable process of granting third-party suppliers, contractors, and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) remote access to internal systems or operational assets, while enforcing strong security controls. Unlike general remote access, secure vendor remote access involves identity verification, time-bound permissions, encrypted communications, and session oversight to ensure that external users can only perform approved tasks without compromising system integrity or exposing critical infrastructure to risk.
Why is Secure Vendor Remote Access Important?
In today’s interconnected operational environments, third-party vendors are essential for system maintenance, diagnostics, upgrades, and emergency support and incident response. However, vendor remote access is one of the most exploited attack vectors in critical infrastructure, often leveraged in high-profile breaches due to weak authentication, persistent access, or poor session visibility.
Uncontrolled or overly permissive vendor access can enable lateral movement, malware injection, or unauthorized data exfiltration. Additionally, compliance frameworks such as NERC CIP, IEC 62443, TSA SD02E, and Saudi OTCC-1:2022 require strict control over third-party access, including authentication, session logging, and least-privilege enforcement.
Secure vendor remote access is not just about protecting assets, it’s about ensuring operational continuity, upholding regulatory mandates, and enabling external experts to safely collaborate with internal teams without introducing unnecessary risk.
How Does Xona Help with Secure Vendor Remote Access?
Xona is purpose-built to secure third-party remote access for critical infrastructure environments. Its Zero-Trust-based disconnected access model ensures vendors never connect directly to your internal network or OT systems. Instead, all access is brokered through a hardened gateway, with full identity verification, credential injection, and protocol isolation.
With Xona, vendor remote access is just-in-time, time-based, and role-restricted, eliminating persistent access and enforcing least privilege. OEMs or support vendors can log in through a browser-based interface without the need for VPNs, jump servers, or client software. Each session is recorded and monitored in real time, giving your security teams the ability to observe, intervene, or terminate sessions on demand.
Xona also enables moderated access, requiring admin approval before a session begins, adding a layer of human oversight for high-sensitivity scenarios. By delivering fast, frictionless, and compliant remote access for vendors, Xona reduces cyber risk while enabling secure collaboration with third-party experts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What distinguishes secure vendor remote access from standard remote access?
Secure vendor remote access enforces strict controls such as identity verification, time-based access, session logging, and protocol isolation, specifically designed to limit third-party exposure to internal systems.
Why is vendor remote access considered a major cybersecurity risk in critical infrastructure?
Vendors often require privileged access, and without proper controls, this can lead to unauthorized lateral movement, malware introduction, or data exfiltration risks which are frequently exploited in high-profile attacks.
