Maybe it can be opened. Try changing the extension from .skb to .skp and see what happens. Might be better than starting over.
Very likely that’s what caused the corruption.
If you have to be able to work on a file remotely, use your Trimble Connect storage. Save the file to the internal drive and also publish the model to Trimble Connect. On the remote machine, open the file from Trimble Connect and when you are finished working on it, publish it back to Trimble Connect. That will be much safer than using the VPN or even working on an external drive.