Many, many companies have adopted remote work policies and practices since the COVID-19 pandemic forced most to downsize (if not cease outright) on-site operations about two years ago. Now, as we enter 2022, it seems a good time to reexamine the security that we have protecting our businesses and the workers currently operating remotely.
Despite the resistance that many initially had to the concept of remote work, it quickly proved to be a blessing for those companies that adopted it. Now, about two years later, its value has continued as it has kept a lot of businesses open and operational to some extent as infection rates have fluctuated. This approach has also proven popular amongst the employees who are participating in remote work efforts. A PwC survey conducted in August revealed that nearly a fifth of these workers would like to be fully remote, even without COVID in the picture.
However, for all the benefits that remote operations have provided to businesses, we need to address the elephant that snuck into the room with them: the cybersecurity challenges that remote work and working from home have introduced.
Despite all the positive aspects that remote work has to offer a business, we can’t pretend that it doesn’t come with its share of challenges—specifically, in terms of maintaining an acceptable level of cybersecurity.
The reality of it all is that your team members simply aren’t going to have the same protections in their home as you should in the office, which means you need to do all you can to supplement the protections you have in place.
Unfortunately, there are many factors in play that can unpleasantly influence your business’ cybersecurity. Not only may your team members be using their own technology to do their job, they’ll certainly be doing so on a network that you don’t have control over. As a result, this network will almost certainly lack the protections you have on your business.
Furthermore, as they’re working remotely, your team members are going to be on their own. This makes it that much less likely that they’ll be as focused on their security practices as they should be, and more exposed to threats as a result.
It’s obvious that you need to protect your business from any threats it faces…the question is how you can do that. There are a lot of practices and solutions that we recommend a business have its users adopt to help shore up these vulnerabilities. For instance:
Yes, this is a lot, but it’s all important to do to keep your business secure. We’re here to help businesses do so. Give us a call at (770) 448-5400 to learn more.
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