According to a 2017 report by Global Workplace Analytics, almost 50% of the workforce in the United States has jobs that allows them to work remotely for at least a few days during a week or month. Additionally, the 2018 Future Workforce Report by Upwork predicts that a good percentage of employers in the U.S will have employees who work predominantly from a remote location.
By looking at the above statistics, it should be clear that remote workers will be a trend in the coming years. Therefore, employers must think long and hard about everything that can make their remote workers efficient at their jobs. One of the most important things in this regard is securing the remote workers or their devices.
Desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and other technological devices that remote workers use to connect to the workplace are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Cybercriminals are constantly looking to target the remote workers to gain access to a company’s website, network, or other sensitive data.
Whether your remote workers connect to the workplace from their home, a coffee shop, or a co-working space, they are also susceptible to a cyber-attack. Therefore, you must find ways to protect your remote workers from cybercriminals. Luckily for you, we are going to provide you with some proven strategies for protecting your remote employees from cyber threats. Let’s get into the details.
Securing Your Remote Workers: What You Need to Do
Today, the ability to work remotely is proving to be beneficial for both businesses and their employees. Additionally, it has changed how organizations recruit people for open positions and then manage them. Last but not least, remote work is allowing organizations to diversify and strengthen their operations.
While remote work is helping to revolutionize how businesses hire and manage employees, it is also leaving their highly sensitive data vulnerable to cybercriminals. According to a study conducted jointly by Cisco and InsightExpress, a market research company, more than 45% of employees say they transfer files between work and personal computers when they have the option of working remotely.
Remote workers pose unique security challenges for their companies since they are not physically present at the work site. This is especially true for remote workers who connect to the workplace through public Wi-Fi. Therefore, you need to come with unique strategies to mitigate the risk posed to your remote workers and protect your company’s sensitive data. To make things easy for you, the following are 3 ways you can protect your remote employees from cyber threats.
1. Establish a Security Policy
The first and foremost thing that you can do to protect your remote employees from cyber threats is to establish a security policy. Ideally, you should have this policy in place before allowing your employees to work remotely.
What should your security policy for remote workers include? Logging off the network when working from a remote location, rules for copying or sharing files, password requirements, invalidating credentials of employees who have left the company, etc.
In addition to the above, you must not allow remote employees to access data and applications that are not related to their job. You can enforce this by having restricted user access. Also, set up a double authentication requirement for login from remote locations. Additionally, allow access to special projects to your remote workers for only the time it is essential for them.
Get all new recruits, especially those hired as remote employees, to thoroughly read and understand your security policy. Once your employees know and understand your security policy, there will be less likely to indulge in activities that compromise their own as well as the company’s security.
2. Prohibit the Use of Unsecured Public Wi-Fi Networks
Today, you will find many people in coffee shops who are working on their laptops. Most people who work remotely connect to a public Wi-Fi network for the sake of convenience. However, what they don’t realize is that these networks are highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Unsecured, public wi-fi networks make it easier for cyber criminals, such as hackers, to intercept log-in credentials and sensitive data. Additionally, cyber criminals can use the unsecured public wi-fi network to hoax a public wi-fi network or distribute malware. The idea is to lure users and capture their data.
To avoid the above situation, you must make it mandatory for your remote workers to use a virtual private network (VPN) when connecting to the workplace through a public wi-fi network. Alternatively, you could provide your remote employees with personal hotspots so they have no need to connect to a public wi-fi.
3. Use the Cloud
When you use a cloud-based service provider for your business needs, the security of your business become the responsibility of the cloud provider. Cloud services have incredibly robust security features that allow them to protect the company’s data and employees.
Cloud service providers are generally more knowledgeable and skilled in cyber security. This allows them to provide your employees cyber security when they are working remotely. They will put proper safeguards in place to secure the access of your remote workers to your data or applications.
In addition to securing your remote workers, the cloud services will help you save money. With cloud services, you can restrict the data accessible to remote workers and protect the data from cyber attacks like ransomware. If you want to know more about how to protect your remote employees from cyber threats, then get in touch with us today!
by Bobby J Davidson
We love our company and we love what we do. Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business! As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.
The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management. We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services. We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business. percentotech.com/contact
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