Your workforce is remote. But are they secure?

Current “stay at home” mandates require us to be creative in finding new ways to establish and maintain relationships, virtually. Communication is something that many of us, pre-COVID, likely took for granted. But now, without the ability to “reach out and touch someone”, communications no doubt has become top-of-mind for many. In fact, most of us are no doubt working hard to figure out what the best ways are to communicate – with our colleagues, our customers, members of our community, and also with friends and family. It’s a nuance – but a powerful one – that we should all adhere to physical distancing, not social distancing. Strengthen your social connections – personally and professionally. Now is the perfect time to communicate MORE!

As businesses have moved much of their communications from the physical to the digital realm, secure remote access is paramount. Because with the spread of this virus around the world, an unseen human threat has accompanied it: cybercrime. The disruption caused by this pandemic is something we’ve never seen before, but the reality is - malicious actors using a crisis to prey upon the weaknesses of others is nothing new. And unfortunately, this dynamic will continue to exist and evolve as we become more and more reliant on technology enabled capabilities to support our businesses and to communicate with each other.

Proper measures can help bolster your cybersecurity, both now and as we move into a new era in which people are more likely to embrace remote work, distance learning, telehealth, and more. So…

 Protect your employees

The number one priority for our customers is, of course, the personal health and safety of their employees. But just as businesses have taken responsibility for their employees’ physical health and wellness, also important is their “cyber hygiene.” Below are two ways to accomplish this and be more cyber-aware:

1)   Alert your team to the type of cyber-attacks perpetuated during this pandemic. Here’s one resource that AT&T has provided discussing some of the most common types of scams we’ve seen during the novel coronavirus crisis.

2)   You can also care for your employees’ cyber health by continuing to remind them of your company’s cybersecurity policies for remote workers. Implore them to avoid calls from unknown numbers on work devices, avoid unapproved messaging or collaboration tools, and to check the domains of suspicious emails.

As an additional resource, please take advantage of this list of cybersecurity best practices that we’ve compiled for your employees working from home. It’s a great way to protect your business when your employees are the target of cybercriminals.

Protect your infrastructure

So, I’ve talked about how to protect your company from 3rd-party threats. But how do you also boost your defenses from the inside out?

One essential component of securing your company’s internal applications and resources is the deployment of a VPN or other secure access for those logging onto your company’s private network. Additionally, help keep your employees access your internal network safely by using secure collaboration tools with anytime, and virtually anywhere, access.

 And for the CIOs and CTOs out there, I’d encourage you to become a part of our AT&T Alien Labs Open Threat Exchange (OTX). This FREE forum allows anyone in the security community to actively discuss, research, validate, and share the latest threat data, trends, and techniques. With OTX you can strengthen your defenses while helping others do the same. Because everyone should have access to timely and accurate threat intelligence. Right now, as you can imagine, OTX is laser-focused on cyberthreats that are trying to exploit your remote workforce.

I’m sure we can all agree that this pandemic has been trying - physically, mentally, and emotionally - on a level unlike anything many of us have faced in our lifetime. And the corresponding effects of the virus are sure to last long after the virus itself has subsided. But, if history repeats itself, as with any challenging ordeal we should come out on the other side stronger, smarter, and more resilient in many ways. There is no better time than right now to optimize your cybersecurity posture – with plans and actions. Then moving forward, businesses can emerge from this period of uncertainty equipped with a solid cybersecurity strategy and the intelligent solutions that can provide confidence and guard against debilitating security threats.

Staying safe takes on numerous meanings now. Be sure that you’re taking care of your health and that of your teams, and don’t forget to protect the health of your business!