Enterprises and public-sector organizations alike are increasingly allowing or actively promoting “work from home” policies. While this practice can confer productivity benefits, those benefits can be severely undermined if sound security practices are not baked in from the start. For instance, many companies have recently turned to a popular video/web conferencing and collaboration tool, some even use it for providing remote support. However, the technology has suffered embarrassing exploits over the last month, with the FBI issuing a sharp warning about the technology. Consequently, many schools, cities, and companies are just as quickly ditching, and even banning, the technology due to the security concerns. On the whole, cyber threat actors are largely opportunistic, exploiting companies with large attack surfaces due to security negligence or who just might have let their guards down in times of crisis. Right now, attackers are actively exploiting the coronavirus crisis to spread malware and ransomware, and wage other campaigns.
Amidst the crisis, some companies have been able to provide employees with company-provisioned computers that are closely managed and locked down. But for many companies, the ability to have employees take their work computers home was limited. Some enterprises and public sector organizations simply can’t afford the cost of additional corporate computers for every employee outside the office. This leads to employees using their own personal computers from home, which pose a huge security risk on top of the remote access risk. It certainly doesn’t help matters that many organizations are using mixture of unsecure and outdated remote access tools to connect to their network.
Poor cybersecurity hygiene practices, which include device sharing, reusing passwords, storing passwords in unsecured locations, opening emails that contain malware, and using insecure wireless internet connections are all risky problems that are exacerbated when workers are forced to suddenly work remote, with little preparation. What are the keys to enabling a workforce that is productive whether's it's based in a corporate office, a home office, or another remote location, while not compromosing on security? In our new quick guide, we clearly lay out the challenges, the risks, and the right solutions.
The key questions and challenges covered include:
- How can you ensure business continuity?
- Who are your users and what is their job function? Can you set granular access?
- Do your employees need to access their workstations remotely from home?
- Is shadow IT proliferating? Are you able to enforce oversight over application access and granularly control privileges?
- Are your IT help desk technicians properly equipped to handle the spike in service desk tickets and remotely connect to remote workers?
Wherever you are in the process of supporting a secure remote workforce, this resource will help you get on the right track fast.
Download our quick guide: Enable & Secure Your Remote Workforce
