Vendor remote control for printer support

[Dean Williams <dean.williams () UVM EDU>]

Is anyone allowing vendors to remote control your employees' computers with products such as LogMeIn?  

A company from whom we lease printers has been getting departmental staff to let them control their computers with 
LogMeIn, for the purposes of installing printer drivers and configuring campus printers.  Giving strangers access to 
institutional computers that are likely to contain sensitive information makes me a little nervous. 

Whether it's a printer vendor or an employee who wants to do it, though, the demand for remote control or remote 
desktop doesn't seem to be diminishing.  Has anyone found a secure and practical balance between the advantages of 
remote control, and the risks that come with it?   Any specific product experience, good or bad? 

(We use SimpleHelp for IT staff to share clients' screens, but I see that as quite different from letting a vendor do 
so.) 

Thanks for any insights you can share. 

Best regards, 
Dean 


----------------------------
Dean Williams 
Information Security Officer                             
Enterprise Technology Services      
University of Vermont
Dean.Williams () uvm edu  
http://www.uvm.edu/it/