Remote work has grown in popularity and acceptance all around the world, particularly as more organizations enable a large portion of their workforce to work from home.
However, while this approach improves flexibility, productivity, and work-life balance, it comes with a cost: remote work security issues.
Because of the new remote-working environment produced by the COVID – 19 epidemic, cybersecurity has become a greater issue for enterprises all around the world.
Organizations must begin to look toward more developed measures, such as engaging in a zero-trust framework and identity-centric services and provide a smarter method to these repeated attacks, given the need for more strict and powerful cybersecurity to safeguard personnel working remotely.
Remote Work Security Risks For The Employees
Companies might have had a completely remote workforce, staff who work from home on occasion, or employees who travel often for business. And, without even a doubt, managing their safety is more challenging than managing your on-site endpoints.
Here are five negative habits that remote workers in an organization may have that put the firm in trouble:
1. Unsecure Wi-Fi Networks Allowing Access to Sensitive Information
Your employees may be connected to their personal wireless network or even using unprotected public Wi-Fi to access their corporate accounts. As a result, threat guys in the vicinity can easily spy on their network and capture sensitive data. For example, material transferred in plain text without encryption could be captured and stolen by thieves.
As a result, until your employees are using a VPN connection, they should never be allowed to access any unidentified Wi-Fi networks.
At the same time, a trend has been observed that allows employees to use their private devices for work, known as a “Bring Your Own Device” or BYOD policy.
You must be fully informed of the issues that arise when your employees use their personal equipment for work-related purposes.
For example, they may leave the company unexpectedly and keep the confidential information saved on their device during their employment, and you will not have the opportunity to delete it.
Furthermore, they may not be maintaining their software up to date, allowing security flaws to develop in your environment. For good reason, we constantly emphasize the need of deploying security updates in a timely fashion.
As a result, we don’t recommend allowing your employees to access devices at work because you won’t be able to manage what occurs on their endpoints.
2. Basic Physical Protective Measures in Public Places are Being Ignored
Even while cybersecurity is our primary concern, we can’t ignore physical security when it refers to your company’s important data.
For instance, employees may be talking on their phones loudly when working in public areas, exposing their laptop screen to the entire population inside a café, or even leaving their equipment unsecured.
Even the most basic security procedures should be taught to staff, even if they appear to be basic logic at the first glance. A polite warning to them not to reveal your company’s data will always be beneficial.
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Using Passwords That Aren’t Secure
Human error occurs when employees attempt to safeguard personal accounts with weak passwords, even though a firm uses VPNs, firewalls, and other protection measures to make your remote network safe.
Human error is easier to abuse than trying to get beyond an enhanced security solution, which is why cybercriminals would try to hack account passwords in order to have access to sensitive company data.
To hack passwords, hackers employ a variety of techniques. For example, they would compile the databases of the most commonly used passwords which can be used to quickly access those accounts having weak security.
Repeating passwords is another common insecure practice used by hackers. Once they have cracked one account’s password, they will also try to access additional accounts using that same password. Employees who reuse passwords, particularly across their personal as well as professional accounts, are more likely to be a victim of a cyberattack.
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Unencrypted File Sharing is a Bad Idea
While corporations may evaluate encrypting data while it is kept on their system, they may not prioritize encrypting data while it is in transit.
Your employees communicate so much personal information on a daily basis, from customer account data to documents and much more, that your organization can’t afford to leave it vulnerable to cybercriminals. Spoofing, ransomware computer hacking, theft, and other kinds of problems might result if critical firm information is stolen.
Companies’ Security Risks from Remote Work
Your remote workers may be exposing your company’s data at risk without even realizing it. Working from home has the potential that can result in data breaches, identity fraud, and plenty of other problems.
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Scams Through Email
Employees who work from home pose the greatest risk to the security of your network. Employees can unintentionally provide threat actors access to a network and confidential information by unintentionally following cybersecurity best practices.
Employees may be puzzled as to how to continue working safely if company activities are suddenly or temporarily changed to remote work.
One of the most common cyber hazards to remote workers is phishing. Phishing schemes constitute a person or entity impersonating a legitimate source, typically via email, in order to trick a person into supplying essential login details or highly protected information, which could then be used to break into accounts, hack more sensitive information and commit identity frauds, etc.
Phishing emails have advanced to the point where it is becoming progressively difficult for employees to detect them, particularly when they get past email filters and into an employee’s main inbox.
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Weaker Security Controls
The relaxation of the firewall rules as well as email policy is only a small part of the safety restrictions that have been compromised. Remote workers will be exempted from multiple levels of cyber security.
Workers who take their professional devices home with them could possibly be stripped of their defenses as their personal Wi-Fi replaces the business network.
Now that IDS, NAC, and NGFW or proxy servers are no longer available, client devices will stay unprotected and prone to untrusted networks among potentially hacked devices.
Moreover, the security of the internal network could be threatened. Remote workers may require access to the resources that were previously only available on a wired network in a single location.
Cyberattacks On Remote – working Infrastructure
Aside from eroding existing safeguards, the creation of new infrastructure will introduce additional threats. Brute force and server-side threats should be avoided at all costs. The DDoS defense will be necessary as well.
It will be the first time that a DDoS assault has the potential to kill a company by prohibiting remote workers from receiving services via the internet. Both of these types of attacks are expected to expand significantly, according to researchers.
Threats Everywhere
There are security dangers associated with remote work in every direction! However, there will be those inside our companies who wish to kick us out while we are already in a bad situation.
For malicious insiders, sudden working remotely is a blessing. In the comfort of their own home, sensitive information can then be effortlessly taken from a company device via USB.
Security monitoring can be turned off or turned off completely. This is a more difficult threat to address. It may not be possible to eliminate it entirely, but it can be weighed against the requirement for productivity and data availability.
People in our immediate environment may also pose a threat. Yes, you read that correctly!! Most of us believe that we live with individuals whom we can trust blindly, however from a business standpoint, their employees’ homes are zero-trust zones.
Private conversations are now audible, and intellectual property is visible on TVs and screens in living rooms all around the world. What is the solution? To work from home safely, we really have to educate all of our staff.
Use of Static & Dynamic IP address
To begin, an IP (Internet Protocol) address is a numerical identifier assigned to devices communicating via a computer network (LAN, WAN, Internet). It consists of four 8-digit binary digits (0,1) separated by periods and rendered in a decimal range of 0-255. (example 192.168.2.1).
A host’s IP address is assigned either statically (by an administrator) or dynamically (via the DHCP service). Manually assigning a static IP address to the device where continuous availability is required is the recommended strategy. DHCP should be used to assign a dynamic IP address to all other devices.
Static IP Address
When issued to a device, a static IP address (fixed IP address) is a numerical identifier that does not change.
It’s used when changing the address dynamically isn’t an option, such as when persistent access is necessary (e.g., access to servers, routers, printers)
Dynamic IP Address
A dynamic IP address is a numerical identity provided by the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) service to a host (server, PC, laptop, mobile device, etc.) to facilitate network communication.
The address is rented for a set period of time. After this time has passed, the IP address becomes available to any other host that requests a fresh assignment (or renewal) of an IP address – either while connecting to the network or after its prior IP lease duration has elapsed.
If the previous address is already in use by another host, a new one can be assigned after this period (typically 24 hours, but this is a special option).
Static IP Address vs Dynamic IP Address
When it comes to comparing a Static IP and a Dynamic IP, what one needs to consider is the feasibility of the IP. The biggest advantage that a dynamic IP possesses over a static IP is that the user can get to use more than one IP address for working on the internet.
If you wish to learn more about the differences between Static IP and Dynamic IP, then simply visit this link.
Other Practices To Avoid Security Risks When Working From Home
The following are the essential components that both your on-site and remote staff should have on their devices:
- Multi-factor Authentication
This sort of authentication will offer an added level of security to the accounts of your remote workers. The more security layers you have in place, the less likely cyber-criminals are to gain entry to your secure information.
- Password Manager
Your employees should use a password manager in addition to multi-factor authentication when it comes to passwords. They won’t have to memorize all of the many passwords they will need to set up for their work accounts this way.
- VPN
Even when your workers work remotely, VPN connections are critical when they connect to unprotected networks like Wi-Fi hotspots. It is suggested that your staff use the VPN provided by your company. This tool routes information from your organization’s private network across the internet, assuring even more protection.
In other words, anyone attempting to steal the encrypted information will be unable to read it. Your staff will be able to access your company’s intranet, which is a private network that is only accessible to your company’s employees (in case you have one).
- Firewall
Unauthorized access to and from the network will be prevented by a firewall, further enhancing the safety of your employees’ devices. Firewalls are devices that monitor network traffic while also detecting and blocking harmful data. Firewalls are essential tools for protecting your distant endpoints from a variety of cyberattacks.
- An effective EDR solution
Last but not least, your system administrators must always have access to the precise specifications of your endpoints. This is why an endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution is advised, as it will enable you to remotely avoid next-generation malware, data leaks, respond quickly to attacks, and manage software deployment and patching.
Quick Links:
- VyprVPN vs ExpressVPN; Is VyprVPN Better Than ExpressVPN?
- Top VPN Support Mobile & Desktop: Can You Use VPN On Phone And Computer?
- NordVPN vs Surfshark: Which One To Choose
Conclusion:
In today’s company environment, it’s very critical for you to be inventive and competitive, and allowing your workers to work remotely is absolutely a required step.
However, remote work has certain vulnerabilities that should be addressed before allowing anyone to work from home – whether permanent remote employees or those who work from home only a few hours each month.
Only by successfully responding to this task will you be able to completely seize this opportunity to boost talent retention, performance, and work-life balance for your employees.
