Remote working has become explosive with COVID-19, which has developed a challenge for small and medium-sized businesses around the world. With more and more employees working remotely, you need to (1) enable them to be effective and productive and (2) keep your business’s data safe.
With the onset of COVD-19, employers in many US states were forced to allow employees to work remotely. However, many businesses weren’t prepared. Lack of laptops, lack of web cams, lack of VPN software – lots of issues arose. With businesses scrambling to get this setup, it could easily have resulted in opening your IT network to the outside world.
Some businesses have added the necessary security measures to cover remote working environments; however, many other businesses still haven’t focused on getting the right security measures in place. When focusing on the setups to enhance cybersecurity for remote workers, there are a few things to consider:
- Technology: Establish a virtual private network (VPN) to allow remote workers to securely access company documents. Make sure that all technology equipment is rountinely updated with the latest security updates. Always enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) when available to eliminate the ability of criminals to access your accounts.
- Policy: Layout your security expectations of your remote workers in writing. This is for everyone’s benefit and most people appreciate clarity. Things to conside include: using the company VPN when outside the home and always enable software updates to ensure that the lastest versions of operating system software are in use. From a company perspective, make sure that you have onsite and online backups in place in case an employee fails to follow your policy.
- Communication: Make sure that your Team Members are aware that they should raise any questions to you or your IT professional. So, it’s vital to stress the need to follow the practices established by your company regardless if they’re working in office or remote.
This is a new challenge for all businesses around the world! So if you’d like some advice and guidance about enhanced security for your remote teams, call us on 773-696-2448 or email support@52r.de6.myftpupload.com.