A sharp increase in the number of people working from home or engaged in a hybrid arrangement since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in several new and evolving cybersecurity threats. Information technology (IT) teams need to keep on top of new threats and implement strategies for mitigating risk.
Minimizing the threat of cyberattack involves both adopting new technologies and educating staff members about keeping data secure when working from a remote network. IT departments should regularly revisit their practices related to cybersecurity among employees who work from home to ensure they are adequately protecting both company and client data.
Some of the current best cybersecurity practices include:
1. Providing antivirus software. Robust antivirus software remains a key part of ensuring the security of remote workers. People with malicious intent can use a wide array of different strategies to attack home networks through spyware, ransomware, and distributed denial-of-service maneuvers. Installing high-quality antivirus software helps detect these threats and identify their presence before they are able to launch an attack. Prevention is key to keeping networks safe and secure. IT teams should use antivirus solutions equipped with automatic updates, so that emerging threats are continuously included in detection efforts. These solutions can be scaled to provide security for all remote work devices and even the networks that remote workers use regularly.
2. Teaching how to secure home networks. Home networks are often more vulnerable to cyberattack than office networks simply because employees may not understand how to enhance their security. For example, home Wi-Fi routers typically have default passwords that are often easy for hackers to guess. Employees can make their networks more secure by setting unique passwords for their routers. To change passwords, individuals need to access the router’s settings by typing the address into a web browser. While this is relatively easy to do, individuals must learn the appropriate steps. Fortunately, IT departments can easily walk employees through this process.
Individuals can also change the service set identifiers of their networks to make them more difficult for hackers to find and access. Through their router’s wireless configuration pages, people can additionally enable encryption, limit access to certain media access control addresses, and ensure that the latest firmware version is installed.
3. Encouraging the use of password managers. Having a strong, unique password for each service is extremely important for optimal cybersecurity. Too often, people use the same passwords for all of their services, which means as soon as a hacker cracks it, they have access to the entire network. Using a different password for each service creates more hurdles for hackers.
Ideally, each unique password should contain a combination of letters, numbers, and special symbols. Furthermore, each of these passwords should be at least 12 characters long. Following these suggestions greatly enhances security, but it also creates some potential problems for employees who have to remember several complex chains of characters. To avoid saving passwords in an insecure manner, such as on a notepad, employees should have access to a password manager, which is a secure repository of these individual chains. This strategy is the most secure option for all employees, especially those who work from home and may be targeted more easily by hackers.
4. Making use of Internet security software. A number of software options exist for keeping online computing as secure as possible. These options include software that has already been highlighted above, such as password managers and antivirus software, as well as more basic services like secure web browsers.
When working from home, employees should always use secure web browsers. They should also consider using VPNs to further protect their networks and individual devices. In addition, there are identity theft protection services that further monitor systems and highlight any potential attempts at invading them. Even services like cloud backup can be used to keep systems more secure. IT teams should adopt the Internet security services that make the most sense for their teams and work closely with employees to ensure this software gets installed and used properly.
5. Instilling good email security instincts. A large percentage of cybersecurity attacks come through email, so security on this front should be a primary focus. Luckily, there are a number of tools designed to promote email security and ensure safe communication with colleagues and customers, even when working from home.
One of the key tools to utilize is a VPN. Ideally, employees working at home should only access work email using a VPN, which encrypts the entire connection to keep devices and data as protected as possible. Encryption helps by coding the information being transmitted, so it would need to be decoded after being intercepted to be at all useful to a cyber-attacker.
Companies should also employ software that can detect malware and spyware, so messages potentially containing this software get intercepted. Furthermore, employees should get training on how to recognize phishing emails and be told to avoid links and attachments in messages, especially those coming from unknown senders.