In addition to the global boundary fluctuations, there has been a shift in the operating environment of the working culture that looks like it is here to stay. Work-from-home (WFH) has been encouraged by a growing number of remote workers who continue to search for roles that keep them at home rather than in the office. Whether permanent, mixed or temporarily remote, cyber and electronic security becomes even more critical when employees are away from the workplace.
It should come as no surprise, then, that there has been a massive increase in cyberattacks that are directly related to the migration of workers out of the brick-and-mortar workplace. Last year was a record year for instances of data breaches. By Q3 2021, the number of reported data breaches had exceeded the total cases for the entire year of 2020, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. Even the total number of violations broke the record for one year.
It is the same with criminal emails of identity theft. Security company Barracuda Networks has reported a 667% increase in phishing emails since February-March 2020 — a time when many governments were first launching work through domestic orders.
Remote employees are at greater risk of cyber attacks than office workers for a variety of reasons. The most obvious reason is probably the extra reliance on sharing digital information, conversations or texts, which may be more sensitive and shared online rather than verbal or visual communication.
Secondly, home networks are often more insecure; and networks in public spaces, such as coffee shops or co-operatives often have limited security that is easier to attack. Further, your choice of machines also affects your chances of risk — there has been an increased use of personal laptops and devices that have replaced conventional desktop computers. Fighting this weakness is not easy, especially for global companies.
Challenges To Endpoint Security
One of the most obvious security challenges with remote workers is communication. Oral conversations have been replaced with instant messaging, emails, cloud text and video conferencing. All of this is at risk of attack and even the use of secret writing will never fully guarantee tolerance for cyber attacks.
Out-of-office networks present another challenge for businesses. Inside offices, the IT department can put relevant security measures such as restricted IP addresses and firewalls on their network. However, companies cannot control home broadband or public wifi. Anyone can access the same network as an employee and the company will never get to know about it or be able to withstand the threat.
Additionally, a growing challenge is the use of personal devices. The risk of sensitive information leaking into an unsafe environment increases exponentially as employees download messaging apps such as Slack and Zoom to their own machines and perform tasks on their phones — both of which are most likely when employees work away from the office and at asynchronous schedules. It is therefore not surprising that in the Benchmark Report 2020 CISCO, more than half (52%) of the respondents viewed mobile devices as a major online security challenge.
The challenge of maintaining spatial harmony. Companies that accept remote work are no longer limited to hiring those living from a limited distance from the office. They can now access global talent. For IT teams, this makes the task of securely pre-configuring, feeding, managing and restoring devices extremely challenging.
Providing Remote Workers With Company Devices
It is important for any company with remote or mixed staff to use a robust device management solution. For added security, organisations should look at pre-configuring devices with applications and security policies before they are assigned to long-term employment. Below are a few business considerations regarding device management and security policy.
There needs to be a reasonable level of security in place; perhaps the disk drive can be encrypted or, at the very least, have a device password, fire extinguisher and/or anti-virus software.
- Application Installation: Apps may be pre-installed on devices to limit the threats of third-party applications by cybercriminals.
- Software Updates: Software updates are another consideration; these can usually be done remotely but should be monitored regularly to check that the device is up to date.
- Loss or Stealing of Devices: If devices are lost or stolen, an entity will appropriately seek the ability to erase any data to prevent external entities from accessing sensitive data.
What About The Security Of Other Stakeholders?
Organisations need to not just consider their own security but also their suppliers’. Some of the largest breaches in the past few years have been caused by companies in the supply chain rather than from weakness in the organisation itself. Where companies moved their employees remote, smaller organisations, in particular, focused their attention on how to continue operating rather than security.
With increased attack surface, threat actors were quick to exploit these weaknesses. As a result, third-party security is an increasing focus for security programmes and gaining more attention from regulators internationally.
The first risk posed by a third party is when suppliers have privileged access to an organisation’s systems. If the supplier is compromised, a threat actor may be able to gain access to your organisation by moving from their network. The next risk comes from suppliers that hold your organisation’s data. When a third party is responsible for the loss of a larger organisation’s data, it is typically the larger organisation that makes the headline. Under most regulations, that risk cannot be outsourced to the supplier and can result in fines and customer loss for the company.
The third risk relates to ongoing supply. If your supply is compromised in a cyberattack and unable to provide their services to you for a period of time, this can affect your own business operations. While this becomes a business continuity issue, understanding your supplier’s security can help you identify where this may be a greater risk.
Organisations should take steps to understand the security in place from their third parties. There are many ways to do this and the two most common are sending suppliers questionnaires or using risk ratings. Once you understand who your critical suppliers are and have an understanding of the risk they pose, you can work together on any remediation.
Contributions by Karla Reffold — Cyber Security Expert