Contractors, vendors, and service providers are essential to many organizations. They maintain systems, troubleshoot applications, and support projects that require access to internal resources.
But providing that access can introduce unnecessary complexity.
Troubleshooting a workstation, collaborating on an engineering project, or performing maintenance on a Linux server. These are common reasons organizations grant access to outside users, and each involves a specific resource rather than the entire corporate network.
In each case, the requirement is relatively simple: connect an authorized outside user to a specific resource.
Does that user really need connectivity to the corporate network?
With resource-specific remote access, organizations have another option.
Rethinking Remote Access for Outside Users
Virtual private networks (VPNs) have long been used to provide employees and third parties with access to internal systems.
A VPN creates an encrypted connection to a private network, where users can reach resources permitted by the organization’s security controls. While VPN access can be restricted through segmentation and firewall rules, managing those restrictions adds administrative work.
For a contractor who only needs one workstation, this may be more complicated than necessary.
Rather than extending network connectivity and then restricting what the contractor can reach, organizations can start with the individual resource.
Give the contractor access to the system they need, without giving them general access to the network around it.
This is the approach supported by Leostream Cloud.
How Leostream Cloud Supports Contractor Access
Leostream Cloud provides a cloud-hosted service for managing secure connections to individual workstations and protected resources.
Instead of requiring outside users to establish a traditional VPN connection, Leostream Cloud brings identity verification, access permissions, resource assignments, and connection management into one centralized experience.
Consider a software vendor who needs to troubleshoot a workstation at headquarters.
IT configures the vendor’s access to that resource through Leostream Cloud. When the vendor signs in, their identity is verified using the organization’s configured authentication method.
Leostream Cloud supports integration with enterprise identity providers using SAML or OpenID Connect (OIDC), allowing organizations to use existing identity systems and multifactor authentication.
Once authenticated, the vendor sees only the resources they’re authorized to access, based on administrator-configured access rules and assignments.
They select the approved workstation and establish a connection without requiring general network-level access.
For IT, this means maintaining control over who can connect to which resources without creating a separate network access arrangement for every engagement.
Secure Connections to Protected Resources
Controlling which resources a contractor can access is important, but so is how the connection reaches those resources.
Organizations generally want to avoid exposing services such as RDP or SSH directly to the public internet. Traditional remote access deployments may also require VPN infrastructure, firewall changes, and network routing.
Leostream Cloud offers an alternative through its Gateway and Agent architecture.
The Leostream Cloud Agent supports an outbound connectivity model, allowing protected resources to participate in remote sessions through a customer-hosted Leostream Cloud Gateway.
This reduces the need to expose remote access services directly to the internet or establish inbound connections to individual workstations.
Leostream Cloud also supports multiple connection technologies, including RDP, VNC, SSH, HTML5, Amazon DCV, Jump Desktop, and Sunshine/Moonlight.
IT can configure the appropriate connection method for each resource, whether a contractor needs a Windows workstation, Linux system, or GPU-enabled cloud workstation.
The underlying infrastructure and connection protocol may vary, but access can be managed through one centralized service.
Maintain Visibility and Control Over Contractor Access
Providing access is only part of managing outside users. IT also needs visibility into how that access is used and the ability to remove permissions when they’re no longer needed.
Leostream Cloud provides centralized connection logging to help administrators track who accessed which resource and when.
For applicable sessions using its built-in HTML5 viewer, optional session recording can provide additional visibility for auditing, troubleshooting, or reviewing third-party activity.
Access permissions and resource assignments can also be updated centrally as projects change.
If a contractor needs an additional resource, IT can adjust their assignment. When the engagement ends, access can be revoked without redesigning the underlying network configuration.
This helps organizations maintain control over temporary access and reduce the risk of leaving unnecessary permissions in place.
One Part of a Broader Third-Party Access Strategy
Third-party access management involves more than remote connectivity.
Organizations may also need credential vaulting, privileged account management, approval workflows, vendor risk assessments, and other security controls.
Leostream Cloud isn’t intended to replace every part of that process.
Instead, it addresses a specific challenge: how outside users securely connect to individual workstations and protected resources.
By combining identity-based access control, resource assignments, encrypted connections, and centralized logging, Leostream Cloud helps organizations manage the remote access portion of their third-party access strategy.
It can complement existing privileged access and vendor management tools while providing a more focused way for contractors to reach the systems they need.
Give Contractors the Access They Need, and Nothing More
Contractors and service providers need access to internal resources to do their jobs. But that doesn’t mean every outside user needs connectivity to the corporate network.
Sometimes the requirement is simply to connect an authorized user to an existing resource.
Leostream Cloud helps organizations meet that requirement through centralized identity integration, access permissions, resource assignments, and connection management.
Outside users can authenticate, select their approved resources, and connect using the appropriate technology. IT maintains control over who can connect, what they can access, and when that access should end.
Give contractors access to the resource they need, without giving them access to the network around it.
Learn more about Leostream Cloud and how it supports secure remote access for contractors, vendors, and other outside users.