How To Ensure Cyber Security When Employees Work Remotely?

Since the pandemic, working from home has become significantly common around the world. Indeed, even when the pandemic ends, many anticipate that remote working will stay here for a very long time.

While working from home is convenient and has many advantages, it also opens a new door to cybersecurity hazards. As a result, it’s very important to take cyber security seriously and by keeping the things listed below in mind, you can ensure your cyber security without any complications.

How to remain safe when working from home?

With the increase in remote working, certain cybersecurity dangers have also become more common. During normal days before the pandemic, in many workplaces, an IT group will deal with cybersecurity inside the workplace. However ever since the employees are working remotely, the staff needs to focus closely on cybersecurity dangers themselves.

Here are the top remote-working security tips to ensure you and your staff are working from home securely.

1. Use antivirus and internet security software at home

One of the best security tips for working from home is to put all your devices into a complete antivirus system so that you can ensure safety for yourself as well as your employees.

As indicated by sources, the approximate worldwide harm to businesses because of cybercrime is around $1.5 billion each annum. This figure is simply going to increase as hackers hope to take advantage of your internet networks and business VPNs to access delicate documents.

This could leave you, your business, and your employees open to ransomware assaults, DDoS assaults, malware, spyware, and different sorts of breaks.

Antivirus suites take care of this difficult work for you by offering automatic remote work security against a large group of dangers, including:

• Zero-day assaults (infections exploiting security imperfections before they are fixed)
• Malware, spyware, and infections
• Trojans and worms
• Phishing scams, including those, emailed

2. Get relatives far from work devices

While you might trust yourself and your educated employees to guard themselves on the web, it’s important to understand that working from home means company PCs are bound to be presented to small kids and other members of employees’ families.

In this case, it’s important to remind staff to keep their devices protected and not permit other family individuals to work on laptops, mobiles, and different types of equipment provided by the company.

3. Prefer using a sliding web camera

Working from home generally means being a part of several video chats and video calls that require you to use your webcam. Shockingly, hackers can get to your webcam without consent, undermining your security. Additionally, if you have delicate records around your actual workspace, hackers might have the option to see these by hacking your webcam.

If your webcam is not connected to your gadget, you should prefer turning it off whenever you are not utilizing it. If your webcam is builtin, you try other ways to make sure you’re safe.

4. Utilize a Secured VPN

Remote working frequently implies connecting your PC to the organization’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) through the authorized VPN clients.

It doesn’t make any difference how solid your VPN password is, once found out it will give hackers a simple way in. In such cases, it’s important to ensure employees are refreshing their passwords routinely. You should also remind your employees to use a company-authorized Secured VPN only when they need it, and turn it off when they are not doing any office work.

5. Secure your home Wi-Fi

The least difficult way of hijacking into your system is through your home Wi-Fi network’s security. In order to avoid such things from happening, you must make a solid, one-of-a-kind password, instead of depending on the automatic password provided to you by the company. Try not to use your name, personal residence, or anything that can be used to recognize you as your password.

You must also ensure that you have enabled network encryption so that you can restrict network admittance to MAC addresses for extra security.

6. Be careful with Zoom and video conferencing

Remote working means you will be using some sort of video conferencing software — zoom being the most famous these days. However, you’re at risk, and hackers can hack your meeting and make use of all the data you have discussed on the call.

You can prevent this from happening by ensuring that meetings are private, either by requiring a password or controlling access.

7. Multi-Factor Authentication

Implement multi-factor authentication to ensure that only the right authorized users are able to connect to the organization’s network remotely.

8. Device Authorization

Allow only authorized devices to be connected using device authorization. Limit the access to certain information assets or services as per the users' role and access rights matrix.

9. Identity and Access Management

Implement a strong Identity and Access Management solution and practices to define the identity of the users and their access to various information assets and services inside the organization network based on the authorized access rights matrix with periodic access reviews and regular monitoring of the access logs. Deactivate temporarily when the employees are on leave, permanently when they leave. Use privileged access management solutions and practices for administrative users.

10. Data Leakage Prevention

Implement Data Leakage Prevention tools for ensuring the data is not leaving the organizational network. If any data requires to be shared, it shall be shared in a secured or encrypted way with a specific access period with an expiry date and time.

11. Monitoring and Vulnerabilities

Establish a monitoring mechanism for continuously monitoring security events, incidents, and access to organization networks, escalate if there are any potential threats. Conduct periodic vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify and fix the vulnerabilities.

Article References:

https://www.ibm.com/topics/cybersecurity

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/five-types-cyber-security-organizational-safety/

https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-cyber-security

Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text above belong solely to the author, and don’t reflect views of the author’s employer, organization, committee, or other group or individual.