The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world like nothing that we have seen before. It would be an understatement to say that business world has seen conventional office work culture being shattered.
Work from home is the new normal.
While its an excellent way to ensure that businesses are working, people are safe and the world spins forward, there definitely is a concern of security that looms in front of us.
Work from home opens a slew of opportunities for cyber threats and perpetrators to get what they want—easier than ever before.
How is it even possible?
Most professionals working from home do so without adequate security systems and protections.
As they get into highly sensitive and protected network of a business from a less than protected node, it opens various options for hackers and other threats to get into a business network.
Thus, it will be easier for them to extract confidential information they need. Accessing the network from public and unsafe wi-fi connections is one of such threats.
Another thing is that nearly half of the employees working are using their personal devices to carry out their work. There is no guarantee that these devices have adequate protections installed to prevent a hack or malware attack.
Apart from giving employees access to business data even after the work is done, there are also chances that you may not be able to control who has access to these devices.
Most people tend to use older versions of programs and applications with free software that may be vulnerable to threats and security compromises.
Such issues as these can surely pose threats to businesses and the data that they spend millions on to protect.
How can we address these issues?
While it would be impossible to create a 100% secure work from home environment, businesses need to have adequate policies and protocols in place to ensure that employees are held accountable for the data they use and share.
It does not mean to put the blame of the workers. After all, they are working for you.
One of the best ways to prevent such threats is to create a unique security policy designed for remote working.
Having a formalized work setting where chances of threats are real low is the best way to ensure that your business security is not compromised.
Although creating such a setting is now easy, having certain important aspects covered in the policy is really imperative.
Pertinently, the following elements must be taken care of;
- Help the employees understand the issues of security threats that come with work from home option.
- Provide them with the required technical support to create a threat-free working environment at home.
- Educate them about the steps to be taken if account or device is compromised.
- Provide them with the hardware and software support needed to keep their devices and networks protected.
- Deploy intelligent and comprehensive Endpoint Detection and Response System for your system administrators to monitor all network points in real-time.
Concluding thoughts
With no information as to when the pandemic will go away, if at all, working from home is a necessity for businesses.
The most important thing you need to do to ensure that your business data and network are safe to keep being inventive and innovative. No matter if you have temporary or permanent remote workers, they all pose a threat.
Only when you have adequate policies and systems can you create a culture that inculcates the value of security for your business. Hence, no matter how painful the times may be, it is important to keep working hard and being innovative.