Data Security in the Work-From-Home Environment

2020 threw a lot of challenges at the world. One of them, from the business perspective, that overshadowed the others was cybersecurity. How were businesses to ensure data safety and security in an environment where they couldn’t really control what employees did even during work hours? With the world three years out since the start of the pandemic, new best practices emerged that will be in use into the future, because the trend of working from home now seems to be here to stay. Here we discuss some best practices for data security that can be deployed when working remotely.

• If you can provide your employees with a computer that they will use solely for work, then that solves big chunk of issues. When employees use their own devices for accessing work data, the risk of a security breach is higher as businesses don’t have any control over staff’s personal devices. Your employee’s computer may have security loopholes such as pending updates and security patches or unauthorized software programs. If, instead, it is a company device, you can install control mechanisms that limit what your employees can do with the device. You can impose firewall restrictions, make it a part of your intranet and also monitor employee activities freely.
• If you are allowing employees to use their personal devices for work purposes, you should encourage them to keep their device safe by alerting them about software updates, security patches and offering to install the latest version of antimalware software on their devices. You should have security policies in place defining restrictions and requirements of personal device use that employees sign to acknowledge. You should also establish means to verify compliance with periodic spot checks. This mitigates some of the risk of personal devices.

In either case, you need to educate your employees on the basics of data security. These include password hygiene, identifying phishing attempts, attachment hygiene, etc.

Don’t forget the cloud! Cloud-hosted applications can help you keep your data safe and secure even in the remote working environment by adding layers of data security and eliminating storage of data on local hard drives and removable storage devices. Contact a managed service provider today to learn more!