Remote working will continue to be the way forward for many businesses, and while there are lots of benefits for staff, the biggest challenges are cybersecurity and people. While the ability to allow staff to work remotely gives greater flexibility to businesses, it also comes with cybersecurity risks. However, there are some easy steps for remote employees to follow to help with this.
Safe and secure teamwork flows and virtual meeting tools
During the pandemic, more individuals are working from home than ever before, so the importance of keeping sensitive information safe is even more important. Having a secure and safe teamwork flow along with communication channels is crucial. Not only should a company use one meeting resource across the business, but the platform that is being used should also meet high-security standards, examples such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Skype.
Keep passwords strong
Weak and reused passwords are a common point of intrusion for cybercriminals, having a strong password policy is especially important when staff are working remotely. Passwords alone do not provide adequate protection from cybercriminals, but two-factor authentication can bolster your organisation’s security.
Traditional advice is to make passwords complex, numbers and symbols, to use upper and lower-case letters, and most importantly, to change them regularly.
Two-factor authentication
If available, passwords should be combined with secondary authentication factors such as one-time passwords or secret questions. Two-factor authentication will protect against phishing emails and will give you an extra layer of security.
Password managers
Password managers are one of the safest ways to keep track of your passwords; they allow you to utilise strong passwords without needing to memorise them all. Password managers can also offer optional two-factor authentication, alerts prompted with any compromised password or account information will allow users to change passwords within minutes.
Password manager tools enable users to exchange the time spent entering and recalling or changing multiple passwords for or a password that they can trust. Password managers can minimise working efforts when remote working.
Device security
Whether remote workers use their own device, or work equipment (the latter is recommended), employees need to know how to look after them and what to look out for. Ensuring that staff are aware of what could arise is crucial, this includes securing devices, keeping anti-viruses and anti-malware software up to date. It’s a good idea for businesses to implement remote working policies to set out what is expecting of remote workers, including what they should do to keep their device secure.
Using a VPN
For keeping data safe when you are working remotely, use a VPN. An unprotected internet connection is a risk for remote workers, but a VPN can encrypt data so outsiders can’t see what you are doing online. A remote-access VPN means that staff can log into a company network from anywhere that has access to the internet, keeping your information private.
Find a business IT support team you can trust
Our final recommendation is working with an IT service provider that can adapt to the unique challenges your business is facing. With national, directly employed field engineers stationed from Glasgow to London and our Birmingham IT Support HQ.
To find out more about how we can work together, get in touch with us at [email protected], give us a call on 0121 312 0801 or fill out our enquiry form and one of our experts will be in touch with you within 24 hours.
