While the businesses within the world are rapidly adapting to remote working thanks to the fast rise of COVID-19, cyber attackers are getting to make the foremost of it by introducing different sorts of viruses.

According to the reports, every third business has suffered from a knowledge breach thanks to its remote workforce. Hence, with most of the workers working remotely, there’s one thing the IT organizations are concerned about – cybersecurity.

Remote work security risks

Historically, adopting work from home as a policy has been a troublesome decision for organizations. While some managers fear that remote work might reduce the productivity of their employees, the priority is more on securing critical data these businesses believe .

A recent study from OpenVPN reveals surprising facts about remote work and therefore the security risks related to it:

quite one in three organizations (36%) have experienced a cybersecurity incident due to an unsecured remote worker.
90% of IT professionals think remote workers aren’t safe.
quite 50% of respondents believe that employees at remote work pose a greater security risk as compared to those working onsite.

Remote workers generally work round the clock from a mixture of private and organization’s devices, which have added more complexity to the safety risk profile of the corporate . This involves the workers accessing the company’s data and thus , increasing the danger of external attack or accidental disclosure of critical information.

Given the extension of remote work policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, this example will surely worsen within the coming days.

The need for better remote work policies

The cybercrime cases already cost trillions each year, globally. These losses can be more damaging for businesses given the economic impact caused by COVID-19. As individuals are forced to work remotely, the organizations need to maintain proper controls on critical data.

The current environment requires companies to prioritize the security of their sensitive information and where it’s going. The leakage of data can be more than just one way.

For instance, users may engage in security risk unintentionally by forwarding corporate emails with attachments to their personal email account for easy editing on their mobiles, or any personal devices. This device may contain malware and may expose company’s data to external attackers. This unintentionally leaks the organization’s sensitive data, which should be protected.

More than 40% of employees have agreed to have transferred files between work and personal computers during remote working.

While discussing about the remote work-related security risks, a businessman said, “I feel worried. I have the desire…to not have to think about where my company’s important data is being transferred. I still have a little bit of…. suspicion about – if the whole network is really safe?”

Companies are still not sure about which tools or strategies to implement to store and share information.

They need to have an understanding of the security posture and the controls they have in place. It is important to make sure the endpoint has the right security so that attackers can’t steal the information from there.

Which steps you can take to secure remote working?

To affect the potential threat of blending personal and work data, companies can issue their own devices because it is a simple thanks to separate corporate data. However, more and more employees now feel that performing on their own devices gives them better productivity. So, employers may need to choose a special approach to stay remote employees satisfied.

In this situation, organizations got to apply secure file sync and share technologies which can enable the workers at remote work to access and transfer data during a way that’s both safe and secure.

File sync and share technology by Acronis is formed keeping the present professional environment in mind, where individuals work from different locations and believe multiple devices to maximise their productivity. This service allows users to store files in any approved data repository, share and access files remotely from any devices, whether or not they are documents, videos, files or photos.

When used effectively, the file sync and share solution can enable businesses to make a greater collaborative team. By allowing employees remote access through their phones, desktops, tablets or secure web browsers, without VPN, businesses can streamline their file sharing process.

Also, when the info is centrally stored, the company data is safer and more protected against data leakage.

Beyond this, you’ll reduce vulnerabilities by:

Banning the utilization of unsecured connections.
Using geolocation to limit the places from where the corporate networks are often accessed.
Mandating VPN connectivity for remote work.
Reminding employees to not use their personal email IDs.
Educating employees about cyber-attacks and what does phishing attacks look like?
Using secure collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Alibaba Cloud’s DingTalk and G Suite to remain safe and help the remote team maximize their productivity.

Plan and adopt best practices for remote working

If an individual is trying to find new information, he’s more likely to click on a malicious link during a phishing email which may accidentally compromise the sensitive data. this will happen specially with those that aren’t wont to remote working, and as a result, get distracted quickly, and use personal email and browser while working.

So now’s an excellent time that IT and security teams should create strategies for remote workers.

Companies should choose a security provider as they need specialized IT security teams who can suggest customized policies and procedures, specifically supported their profile.

The security risks related to remote work will always be there. Organizations got to act smart and adopt a proactive approach to manage it as that’s the necessity of the hour.

Stay safe and be careful!