Remote work offers benefits like reduced costs and wider recruitment but also increases cybersecurity risks. To protect your business, provide security training, secure endpoints, use access controls, implement Firewall as a Service, and require multi-factor authentication.
Remote work has become normalized in recent years and can bring a range of benefits for both businesses and employees. From a business standpoint, remote work can reduce costs, improve employee morale and well-being, and enable a wider net to be cast when it comes to recruitment.
While remote work brings a range of benefits, it can also create cybersecurity risks, with more business activities taking place digitally. Therefore, cybersecurity must be a top priority for businesses using remote workers. This post will offer a few cybersecurity tips to help you build a strong defense and avoid a few common mistakes.
Provide Security Training
First, you should provide security training for your staff. 95% of attacks (PDF) succeed due to human error, so you need to show your remote workers how they can work safely, protect data, and detect common scams. This should help to prevent avoidable threats like phishing and give your team confidence in their abilities to work safely.
Secure Endpoints
One of the key issues with remote work is that there are so many endpoints with every remote worker using at least one device. Therefore, you need to make sure that all remote devices are secured with the use of high-quality antivirus and anti-malware software.
Use Access Controls
It is intelligent to restrict who has access to what using role-based access controls (RBAC). This means that staff can only access the resources and data they need to complete their work, which helps to reduce the attack surface. In addition to this, it can reduce the risk of insider threats – which can be both accidental and malicious.
Implement Firewall as a Service
Firewalls have played a key role in cybersecurity for a long time, but they must evolve for use in the remote era. This has led to a Firewall as a Service solution, which can help secure your network with a cloud-based firewall.
This solution is designed specifically for companies transitioning to remote work and cloud-based infrastructures by ensuring that only authorized users can access cloud resources. This gives IT teams granular control over traffic and improves the visibility of data flows. Firewall as a Service is an effective way to secure network access and stop hackers.
Use MFA
You should also require all remote workers to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) when accessing company resources. Strong passwords are key, but these can be easy to work out or predict by cybercriminals. MFA adds another layer of defence by requiring another verification method, such as answering a secret question, entering a code sent to a linked device, or biometrics. This will make it much harder for hackers to gain access and strengthen your overall protection.
Every business using remote workers needs to make cybersecurity a top priority in 2024. Remote work brings numerous advantages to businesses and employees, but it can also create weaknesses regarding cybercrime. These tips will help you develop strong cybersecurity protection so that your remote workers can carry out their jobs with confidence each day.
