Remote workers are more prevalent today than ever before. More and more companies are offering employees the option to work remotely from home or when traveling. While this may be valuable to businesses and their employees, it opens up a variety of potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities due to the nature of an ever-changing threat environment. The biggest threats facing companies with remote workers is the inability to enforce security, lack of commitment to security best practices, and risky behavior on the part of the remote worker.
Being in a physical business office tends to ensure employees follow company policies regarding technology. However when personnel are at home or outside the office, they tend to be more relaxed on these practices. Many times workers don’t have sign-on passwords for their machines or have all of their passwords autosaved. They are also more likely to neglect operating system and software updates, and connect to unsecured home or public wifi networks. Employees often use their remote computers for both work and personal use; they could be accessing company data while simultaneously browsing the Internet or accessing social media websites. What’s worrying is that these workers may also let family members or friends “borrow” their device.
If you are a business that allows employees to work remotely, ensure that workers are abiding by the same technology office policies you have in the office, outside of the office. Protect your office’s data by verifying that remote personnel have password-protected machines, have an active antivirus subscription, only connect to private and secure wifi, and update software regularly.
One solution Computer Experts highly recommends for remote workers is two-factor authentication. We are a re-seller of Duo Security, an application that requires confirmation of remote access through a code that is sent to the employee’s mobile device. This ensures there is no unauthorized remote access to your company. Give us a call today: 321-726-5977.
