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It is no secret that the widespread shift to working from home brought on by the need for business continuity led to a significant increase in cyber attacks in recent years. According to a recent report by Cybersecurity Ventures, the global annual cost of cybercrime for 2023 is set to reach $8 trillion. Yet, this seemingly enormous figure is still believed to be a major underestimate.
Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted organisations worldwide to reassess their cybersecurity approach, as remote and hybrid working become the way forward in the future of work. This means enforcing stricter security policies like multi-factor authentication or MFA and solutions for secure remote access. Read on to learn how IT teams can help their companies navigate the landscape of today’s remote working age and make it safer for them and their workforce.
Given the swift transition to work from home (WFH) for many organisations with little to no experience with it, it is expected that most were aware of the risks yet unprepared to immediately deal with them, such as:
Most employees connect to online networks via their unsecured home internet. Working with this setup puts company data and devices at higher risk of being attacked. Using the organisation’s own virtual private network (VPN) connection or, at the very least, a commercially available and secure VPN service like Mullvad VPN helps significantly mitigate this vulnerability.
In the office, enforcing security measures to protect network ports and devices is straightforward. This is not the case in remote work, where the company’s work equipment is more exposed to physical damage or theft.
Speaking of unsecured devices, employees may opt to access the organisation’s systems or do their work on their personal devices instead of or alongside those issued to them by the company. This practice is often termed shadow IT and can leave the business’s data exposed and easier to steal.
From social engineering to phishing and many more, employees without sufficient cybersecurity training and know-how could fall for any of the many tactics hackers use to exploit the weakest link in any system – the human element. Hackers can deploy their attacks in various ways, from prompting employees to interact with suspicious files or links to persuading unwitting users to give their credentials.
External threats are not the only concern regarding cybersecurity, as risks could also stem from within the organisation. These are regular employees or contractors with authorised access to the company that could misuse their privileges for malicious purposes.
Working from home is associated with various kinds of compliance and legal risks, namely data privacy and security laws, for starters. These can lead to potentially severe reputational and financial damages if not properly managed.
Knowledge is power, and having sufficient knowledge about current and emerging threats in the cybersecurity landscape is a simple yet incredibly effective way of shutting down most attacks employed by hackers. Naturally, this includes the basics, such as avoiding unknown links, files, and executables and doubting the veracity of requests for sensitive information unless wholly proven legitimate. For such cases, there should be an emergency response team that employees can contact if they ever encounter a security concern or anomaly.
Deploying a VPN for employee use is one of the best ways to secure data moving between the company’s core systems and the remote workforce. It helps to hide the user’s IP address and location and encrypts transmitted data, providing an additional layer of security on top of industry-standard network protocols like HTTPS, which has its own encryption mechanism. Upon securing an organisation-wide VPN service, ensure all employees have access and keep it active when conducting business-related activities.
Auditing employee passcodes is a must for every organisation. This does not necessarily entail asking everyone for their login credentials but rather resetting and redefining passcodes for enterprise systems and services according to a stringent security policy. Ensure employees adhere to good password hygiene, adopt multi-factor authentication (MFA) where necessary, and ensure all business-critical passcodes are stored in a secure database should anything happen to key personnel.
Software patches exist for a reason, and it is important to install them as soon as they go live to close security gaps in the company’s deployed systems and software. Of course, applying these patches through patch management is a must to prioritise the most critical updates, adhere to security and compliance standards, and keep system downtime to a minimum.
It makes sense to deploy an MDM or EMM solution now as it simplifies the provision and management of work-issued devices while separating corporate and personal data. It also allows for better control over the device and MAC security. There is plenty more to learn about these solutions, so it is recommended to do further research on them.
Many people tend to retain the default passwords and login credentials that come with their Wi-Fi router devices. Thus, IT support teams should make an effort to instruct employees on changing their home network’s access credentials and provide telephone or video call guidance if necessary to eliminate any possibility of data sniffing, man-in-the-middle attacks, or any other types of attacks.
Cloud services and backups are now a must in this day and age for businesses, but they are also useful for your remote workforce. Without them, employees may be forced to use external thumb drives to back up their devices, which poses a considerable security risk. An MDM/EMM solution makes things simpler in this regard, as they can generally initiate automated backups.
Triage your teams and confirm that they all have their share of management responsibilities. Develop, test, and refine contingency plans as soon as possible to be fully prepared for any possible incidents. Password and security management, essential codes, tech support, and failsafe roles must all be assigned to the right personnel and duplicated.
Remote work is here to stay, and organisations must adapt their cybersecurity efforts and strategies to extend beyond the office walls and cover their increasingly mobile workforce. As the cyber threat landscape continues to evolve and find vulnerabilities in this modern way of working, so too must businesses bolster their defences since lagging behind means a much greater risk of falling victim to an avoidable attack.
For all-around protection of your organisation’s digital infrastructure in and out of the office, look no further than GROUP8. Leverage our renowned offensive-inspired cybersecurity solutions today to always be one step ahead of known and unknown threats. Our cybersecurity services in Singapore cover the entire cybersecurity ecosystem, including web security, incident response, data loss prevention, and vulnerability assessment and penetration testing (VAPT) services. Contact us at hello@group8.co to learn more.