diff --git a/.bazelrc b/.bazelrc
index 401ec1a1e5..089d9809e1 100644
--- a/.bazelrc
+++ b/.bazelrc
@@ -92,12 +92,23 @@ build:remote-http-caching --google_default_credentials
 #  --config=remote               #
 ##################################
 
-# The following --define=EXECUTOR=remote will be able to be removed
-# once https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/7254 is fixed
+# Starting with Bazel 0.27.0 strategies do not need to be explicitly
+# defined. See https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/7480
 build:remote --define=EXECUTOR=remote
 
+# Enable remote execution so actions are performed on the remote systems.
+build:remote --remote_executor=remotebuildexecution.googleapis.com
+
+# Enable encryption.
+build:remote --tls_enabled=true
+
 # Set a higher timeout value, just in case.
-build:remote --remote_timeout=600
+build:remote --remote_timeout=3600
+
+# Enable authentication. This will pick up application default credentials by
+# default. You can use --auth_credentials=some_file.json to use a service
+# account credential instead.
+build:remote --auth_enabled=true
 
 # Increase the default number of jobs by 50% because our build has lots of
 # parallelism
@@ -120,7 +131,6 @@ build:remote --platforms=//tools:rbe_ubuntu1604-angular
 build:remote --remote_instance_name=projects/internal-200822/instances/default_instance
 build:remote --project_id=internal-200822
 build:remote --remote_cache=remotebuildexecution.googleapis.com
-build:remote --remote_executor=remotebuildexecution.googleapis.com
 
 ###############################
 # NodeJS rules settings