With the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work has been a regular practice for most companies. One benefit of working remotely is the ability to work from wherever. Data security, however, is a growing problem as remote work gets more and more popular.
Remote work has raised the bar for security concerns for businesses and their data, with employees utilizing unprotected Wi-Fi networks and potentially putting sensitive company data at risk. Here are some of the best practices businesses can use to protect their company and remote employees.
1. Create a cybersecurity plan
A cybersecurity policy that is well-defined is probably the best place to start in the journey of securing your company for remote work. It might be easier to maintain employees’ attention on security if expectations are stated clearly. Remote work’s more relaxed environment usually promotes a lower degree of security adherence. A policy that puts in place what to follow will help your staff keep themselves and the company secure.
2. Put a complex password strategy into practice
Due to the difficulty of remembering several complicated passwords, people frequently get lazy with password management. In fact, a study shows that 51% of employees use the same password for both personal and work accounts. They may choose this as it makes it simpler to remember their passwords, but this will result in your company becoming more exposed to cybercrime. Therefore, requiring complicated passwords for remote employees is essential for defense against cyberattacks.
Passwords have to be more than eight characters long and should not contain terms such as the names of a friend or pet. Your employees should add at least one symbol or number to their passwords for ultimate password security. They should also be asked to update their passwords every once in a while.
3. Use multi-factor authentication
If you employ multi-factor authentication, employees must enter two or more forms of identification in order to log into an account. That way, even if a hacker were to obtain your employee’s password, they would still need access to their phone, fingerprint, or another form of identification in order to access their account. This significantly lowers the likelihood of an attacker succeeding.
4. Use data encryption software
Data encryption converts text into another form or code that can only be read by those who have access to it. Data encryption software helps you secure corporate data by preventing unwanted users from reading sensitive information. To prevent serious cyberattack dangers in case of device loss or theft, any critical data that your remote team accesses should be secured.
Although data encryption may appear to be a difficult and confusing procedure, data loss prevention and encryption software reliably manage it every day. Your company doesn’t have to try to deal with data encryption on its own.
5. Keep your data in the cloud
Your employees may be tempted to keep their work files on their own devices. This practice should be discouraged because personal Wi-Fi networks and devices are mostly unsecured. Your staff should use programs that enable them to share a virtual desktop when they’re working, or store their work data in the cloud. Of course, you should also check to see if the cloud service you’re using is safe and has a clean record of cybersecurity attacks.
6. Back up your data regularly
You must ensure that data created by both on-site and remote employees are backed up, and crucially, that backups are periodically checked. This covers both local and cloud-based data that is saved by anyone in your company.
Being able to ensure that operations can carry on in the unfortunate event that your company is affected by a cyberattack is crucial given the surge in ransomware assaults. It also makes sense to store primary and backup data in separate clouds if your organization has the financial resources to do so.
7. Embrace the Zero Trust approach
Zero Trust is a security approach that holds the opinion that people and apps cannot be trusted. It requires obligatory verification both inside and outside of your network to give users permission to access the data and resources from your system. This guarantees remote worker security for those that utilize various tools and programs outside of your network.
Businesses should exercise caution at all times when using the internet. You should begin actively pursuing the Zero Trust principle by routinely verifying user access and identities. Consider incorporating this strategy into your rules and procedure for remote work. The multi-factor authentication we mentioned in the previous steps is a fantastic example of a Zero Trust security practice.
Your employees and your company will benefit from an additional degree of security and verification as a result of the “never trust, always verify” principle of Zero Trust.
Final words
Remote work raises unique security concerns for companies. You must acquire all the tools and practices necessary to maintain security while employees work remotely as your company transitions to a virtual workplace. If you leave your remote workforce defenseless, you will also make your company susceptible to possible hazards and dangers that come with cyberattacks.
In the era of remote work, protecting your network, data, and brand reputation requires reevaluating many core components of your security posture. Make sure to employ all the tools you think your company might benefit from effectively. Remote work does not have to be a big security problem if you take some simple steps and monitor your company.
