by Ben Brown | 05/13/2022
The pandemic has forced many businesses and employees to adopt and adapt to new working models. One of the most significant changes in the past two years has been remote working. Whilst this presents many advantages for employees, it leaves businesses vulnerable to cyber-attacks due to having inadequate remote cyber security protection, procedures and processes in place.
Businesses need to remember that the transition to home working doesn’t mean that they can rest on their laurels when it comes to cyber security. By being proactive and taking the necessary steps to protect themselves, businesses will ensure they minimise the risk of potential cyber-attacks.
Don’t wait! If you wait until your business has been breached and follow the ‘it won’t happen to my business line of thought, you could come crashing down to earth with a massive bump and have a severe clean up on your hands. By then the damage will have been done and you’ll be left with an expensive, damaging cleanup!
There are many benefits of office to home working, such as reducing unnecessary travel time, office costs and office space. However, there is a significant risk in the lack of remote cyber security protection that employees have when they are not connected or protected by your business network and infrastructure. There are other issues with hybrid working arrangements that need to be considered, such as the tracking of data and compliance with new regulations.
It’s important that employees have access to office systems from home so they can continue their work without disruption. At the same time, it’s essential that businesses implement cyber security measures to protect their business and its assets from attack. This creates a challenge for businesses when deciding which security measures need to be put in place. It can seem like a bit of a cyber security minefield out there.
Businesses need to consider the following when implementing their cyber security protection:
• Implement a hybrid security strategy that protects both office and home systems. Hybrid cyber security combines the best of both worlds - on-premises and cloud-based security solutions. This helps to protect businesses from attacks that are targeting specific devices or networks, as well as attacks that are targeting the cloud.
• Ensure a robust cyber security policy is in place. This should be tailored to the specific needs of the business and should include guidelines on how employees should work from home. The policy should also cover acceptable use of technology, data protection and remote access. Employees need to know how to protect themselves when working from home, including best practices for internet safety.
• Restrict access to office files and data. Only employees who need these specific files and information to do their job should have access, especially if this information is sensitive.
• Implement firewalls, anti-virus software and malware protection on office and home systems, to ensure maximum protection from possible attacks.
• Review your data handling procedures and ensure that all personal data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Doing this gives you another level of protection making it harder for the hacker to get to your information, therefore, they are likely to move on to an easier target.
• Use a secure remote access solution for employees to connect to office systems from home. Having secure and increased levels of access that employees must go through to access the office systems and information again makes it harder for the attacker to get in.
• Review your business continuity plan to ensure that you can continue to operate in the event of a cyber-attack. In the unfortunate event that a hacker does breach your security levels, and gets into your systems, you need to ensure that you have a robust plan in place which will allow your business to keep operating.
The best thing a business can do when setting up its cyber security procedures for remote cyber security protection is to employ the services of an established reputable cyber security consultancy. This will ensure that all the systems that you implement for your business and employees are in-line with all the latest guidelines and will offer your company maximum protection going forward.
When it comes to protecting your business, we are 100% focused on your security. We are a cyber security consultancy with a significant difference. We are seasoned ‘white hat’ hackers with over 20 years extensive experience and expertise in the cyber-security industry and of working inside large security consultancies.
We now use our skills to benefit businesses of all sizes around the world, especially small-medium businesses. Why should only the big companies be able to access and afford robust cyber security advice and implementation? We’ve developed a set of tools and policies that boil down the industry's tried and tested methods, to help you secure your business. Our process involves examining your business in detail so we can identify how and by what methods attackers can target you and your employees both within the office environment and at home with remote access. We help you develop and implement policies specific to your business circumstances that will allow you to stay on top as the future threat landscape evolves.
Take a look at our website for information on the services that we can provide for your business, to ensure you’re not just protected in the office, but also have remote cyber security protection so that you don’t become the next victims of a cyber-attack.
Start scanning your projects for free. You will get a free breakdown of your security status. Start securing your future now.
Get started