Security Beyond the Office: Ensuring Information Security Awareness in Remote Work
In the wake of the pandemic, some degree of flexibility to work remotely has become the norm.
Work-from-home has a lot of benefits, but its impact on information security remains firmly in the “risk” column.
Continue reading to learn more about how remote work impacts infosec, and how to promote information security among remote employees.
Information Security Challenges in the Remote Era
According to a report by Alliance Virtual Offices, the switch to remote work during the pandemic created a 238% increase in cyberattacks.
There are a lot of reasons why remote work represents a risk to information security.
First, remote work takes your data outside of a controlled environment. Suddenly, employees are communicating and accessing information with no firewall or intrusion detection system. Certainly, you don’t have control over the people that access their work area.
People with malicious intent have picked up on these vulnerabilities and have begun targeting remote workers in particular. Known scams include conventional phishing to steal VPN credentials and “vishing” (voice phishing) by posing as internal IT/help desk employees.
Plenty of other security risks come about through accidents or carelessness. Remote workers may use insecure Wi-Fi networks, get lazy about updating their software, let children use their company-owned devices, perform work on personal devices, and engage in other risky behaviors that wouldn’t be a concern in the office.
Finally, remote work stretches cybersecurity teams thin in a myriad of ways. More endpoints mean more potential attack surfaces. Added hardware may not be optimized for security. There’s a larger amount of software to secure and, theoretically, a larger technology environment to monitor. Except the security team can’t properly monitor home networks.
Strategies for Improving Remote InfoSec
Improving information security for remote workers will require a multi-pronged approach.
First, you need to implement controls, policies, and tools that help close common remote work security threats.
Implement multi-factor authentication to protect against brute force attacks and unauthorized access to your resources and network. Encourage employees to keep firmware and software up to date so they’re being monitored for the latest security threats.
Provide employees with a virtual personal network (VPN) and configure those tools to protect your company from cybercriminals using remote-savvy techniques.
Implement policies and procedures specifically aimed at remote work and provide security awareness training that includes education on work-from-home security risks, including guidelines for using personal devices, preventing family members from accessing work devices, how to avoid phishing/vishing scams, and more.
Explain why best practices are best practices. Employees are more likely to take recommended security precautions if they understand the reasoning behind the request.
Once these common-sense solutions are in place, you need to conduct regular security assessments to identify current vulnerabilities and get controls in place.
Where Do You Get Online Information Security Training?
As an online compliance training provider for over 20 years, we have a range of information security training solutions that are self-paced and effective.
Our enterprise solutions include bulk pricing, an expansive library of regulatory-approved content, flexible system integrations, and dedicated support.
Contact us today!
