The key to maintaining your cyber security with remote workers is knowledge sharing and training. Home-working can provide cyber criminals with a playground of vulnerabilities if you and your employees aren’t on the ball.
Surveys show that almost 50% of remote workers receive cyber security training less than once a year.
5 cyber security risks for remote workers:
#1 Poor work environment
If you’re going to have remote-working employees, they must have the right set-up. This includes providing them with the hardware they need. If they want to use their own device, it’s important you make sure it’s up to scratch, just as you would with a BYOD programme.
Their hardware shouldn’t be too old. Technology is improving all the time with new security demands to protect your business from the growing sophistication of cyber crime. This means old tech can pose a threat.
#2 Inadequate anti-virus
Anti-virus software on a home PC is often substandard for business use. If your remote team are using personal PCs or laptops whilst working from home, it’s important to understand that any device connected to your network that is not running sufficient anti-virus software, is a vulnerability.
#3 Unpatched users
Much like the anti-virus weakness, unpatched software poses a huge cyber security risk. If an unpatched user is compromised, dangerous malware or ransomware could spread like wildfire through your business, encrypting all your data and rendering it useless.
Make sure your patch management solution covers all remote clients and prompt your team to have their automatic updates on.
#4 Insufficient firewall
If your business doesn’t operate fully cloud-based systems or your remote workers aren’t connecting to your network via a Virtual Private Network (VPN), their firewall needs to be on-point. Non-industry-leaders can provide solutions but these often cut corners on your security.
Only 38% of businesses provide a VPN for staff to connect remotely
Firewalls need to be up to the job of offering high levels of encryption between home connections and your head office – you can’t afford to compromise. Your IT provider should be able to support you with this.
#5. Weak WiFi network
Cyber criminals are targeting home WiFi networks more and more. Many remote-workers use unpatched and misconfigured routers to access business data and files. So it’s easy to see how this vulnerability would be a popular exploit for cyber criminals.
How to know if your WiFi has been hacked.
Jupiter IT Is More Than IT Support – It’s IT Consultancy
At Jupiter IT, we’re committed to raising awareness of cyber crime and tightening cyber security.
We offer free cyber security training to all of our clients and their teams – whether they are in-house or remote workers. By raising awareness of how cyber crime works, we can help you protect your business and your employees from becoming victims of a cyber attack.
To find out more or to book a session for your team, drop us a line.
