The way we do business has fundamentally changed since the quarantine era. Remote and hybrid work, which were once rare to see, now dominate the workforce, and businesses of all sizes have had to learn and evolve quickly in order to keep up. Remote work brings a lot of benefits with it for both individuals and organizations, but it also introduces new and unique challenges, especially for cybersecurity.
Keeping your business’s network and digital assets protected in this day and age is more important than ever, and when you rely on hybrid and remote work, you need a unique approach to cybersecurity in order to ensure maximum safety. These nine practices are some of the most impactful and reliable ways that you can protect yourself and your business from digital threats, making them very valuable to incorporate into your remote workforce!
1. Secure VPN Usage
Public or unsecured personal wifi used by your employees can provide a wide open door to cybercriminals and other wrongdoers, so a secure network connection is essential for remote security management. Virtual private networks, or VPNs, protect the IP addresses and activity of your team, acting as an invaluable defense against attacks and security breaches.
2. MFA: Multi Factor Authentication
How do you know that it’s really one of your team members logging into your business’s network? The answer is that oftentimes you don’t, and with lax security measures around your login procedures, the risk of wrongdoers getting in via an employee’s profile is always present. Multi factor authentication is a simple but incredibly effective way to keep things secure, requiring more than just an easy password for your team members, or potential hackers, to gain access.
3. Phishing Training
Phishing emails, or fraudulent emails that pretend to come from a reputable source, are nothing new, but they are becoming more sophisticated and more difficult to spot than ever, and the company emails of your team members can be prime targets. Having your employees go through training sessions will help them learn to spot these emails and handle them correctly, decreasing the likelihood of your organization falling victim to a phishing scheme.
4. Physical Security Training
In the cybersecurity world, “endpoints” are physical devices that connect to a digital network, like laptops or tablets, and an unsecured endpoint can be a hacker or cybercriminal’s dream. A team member who works at a coffee shop and leaves their laptop unattended, for example, might soon find their device stolen, putting the entire company in jeopardy. Training your employees in physical security can help them to learn the importance of protecting their devices, keeping them from being potential access points for a cyberattack.
5. Information Encryption
If a device belonging to a member of your organization is stolen, that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. You can still provide additional protection for your sensitive information by encrypting stored data on the device. Encryption makes it impossible for anyone without an access key, usually a code or PIN, to access the relevant data and information, providing a layer of invaluable security for all of your employees’ devices.
6. Device Updates
These days, an outdated device is an unsafe device. Cybercriminals are fast, smart, and relentless, constantly developing new ways of getting past security systems and wreaking havoc on unsuspecting organizations. In response, cybersecurity has to evolve just as quickly, addressing new technologies and techniques and anticipating weak spots in order to shore up defenses. If the laptops, computers, tablets, or other devices used by your team members aren’t regularly updated, they could be at risk of a breach. Mandating frequent updates can be crucial in keeping your digital walls high and strong!
7. Cloud Storage
Cloud storage is extremely convenient for businesses that do a lot of remote or hybrid work, allowing team members to collaborate from anywhere in the world and making files and information quick and easy to access. However, it provides more benefits than just flexibility. Cloud storage can also be external drives, which are easy to steal or switch and can be vulnerable to malware installations that might cripple your network. Many cloud storage services also provide security measures of their own, and can even help you to recover data in the event of an emergency.
8. VoIP Security
Gone are the days of the corded phone on a desk in the office. Instead, most companies today rely on VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol. This essentially refers to the many technologies out there that you might use to have voice calls over the internet. These tools are common and indispensable to the way we do business today, but they aren’t without their own inherent weaknesses. Cybercriminals can disrupt your service, send fraudulent calls, and even intercept conversations to gain access to sensitive information or your entire network. Security measures like calling restrictions, frequent call log reviews, and remote device management can help to ensure the security of your VoIP calls.
9. Co-Managed Security
More and more organizations these days are outsourcing their cybersecurity needs to external providers. This gives them the best of both worlds– cost effectiveness and safety and security for their digital environments. However, while the service provider you choose surely knows cybersecurity inside and out, you know your company better than anyone could! Co-managed security protocols emphasize coordination and cooperation between you and your security providers, allowing you to collaborate on best practices and what your organization truly needs. This is by far the best way to get a tailored security approach that works right for your business!
For businesses, especially small and medium-sized businesses, that have remote and hybrid workforces, maintaining cybersecurity is important, but it doesn’t have to be a constant battle! If you’re interested in learning more about how to make security easy and effective for your remote workforce, talk to our team at Progressive Computer Systems today!