Does Remote Work Impact Security?

Remote work has become a way of life for so many of us. It makes a lot of things harder. Communication, focus, and task management have all become more difficult. One of the things hardest hit by remote work is our online security. An overall increase in teleworking makes it harder for companies and workers to maintain cybersecurity standard for several reasons. This means that cybercrime has been more effective during the pandemic. Staying safe despite these threats means that decision makers need to make changes to how telework functions at their companies.

Why is cybercrime so effective now? One reason is that the devices that cybercriminals target are more important than ever. It used to be that if a cybercriminal locked an employee out of their computer, they could get a replacement and report the problem easily. Now, that same computer could take days to fix, with critical work halted in the meantime. A second reason is the added complexity that comes from having employees out of the office. Losing the office firewall means more vulnerable employees. Employees don’t have a security team in their house reminding them to change their passcodes or not to click on strange emails. Finally, work-from-home puts stress on remote security teams. With workers operating from changing locations and at changing times, it’s harder to identify irregular behavior.

You can take control of your business’s cybersecurity with a few simple steps.

1. Regularly remind your employees about your business’s security protocols and cybersecurity best practices.
2. Keep personal and work devices separate. Opening personal email or going shopping on a work device exposes a business to increased attacks.
3. Enable multi-factor authentication on your devices. This is an easy way to keep threat actors from accessing any secure account.

These steps are just the beginning. While individuals should do their best to keep their devices secure, they can’t do it alone. Maintaining security for your business is complex. As cyberattacks become harder to identify and prevent, businesses’ security needs increase. If you want to design a security strategy that takes your work-from-home risk into account, email us at info@optfinITY.com or call us at 703 – 790 – 0400.