The Cyber Security Risks of Employees Working From Home

Organisations (big and small) throughout the world are preparing for the future in what resembles a “post-pandemic” world by addressing IT security concerns for their home workers.

Remote workers can present many dangers as employees are forced to rely on their home networks and their devices to complete their tasks. You should also make sure they are skilled in technical areas, as there is only so much that your IT team can do for them if they run into technical problems.

The Velocity Smart Tech Market Research Report 2021 shows that 70% of remote workers experienced IT issues during the pandemic. 54% of those affected had to wait for up to three hours before the problem was resolved.

Remote working, however, is here to stay. The benefits are too great.

A Gartner survey found that 47% of organisations questioned will offer employees the option of working remotely fully-time after the pandemic, while a massive 82% stated that employees should only work from home at most one day per week to reduce risk.

Why Should We Think About Cyber Security?

We’re seeing more and more business owners and organizations adding telecommuting or remote working options to their corporate policies. With the explosion of the cloud, businesses are being forced to think about how they ensure their users’ safety and security as well as protecting the privacy of their confidential data.

What Benefits Can Remote Workers Provide to the Organisation?

The advantages of remote workers are numerous. Remote workers offer you the opportunity to attract top talent and build an all-star team of highly-skilled experts. In many cases, remote workers can build their skills while taking care of their family at the same time.

For smaller businesses, remote workers can ease the burden of hiring new employees or training existing staff who are new to the job. This reduces your organisation’s risk and allows your IT team to focus on their core business.

Remote workers also create a solid training pipeline. When you hire someone from the outside, you don’t always know what skills they’ve learned in their previous role. By hiring a new employee from the outside, it’s easier to take an educated guess at what skills they need to learn.

What are the Risks Associated with Remote Working?

Remote workers are often more vulnerable than other workers to cyber security risks.

Remote workers can be hacked, giving a foreign entity access to critical information and private information. Not all remote workers are aware of the risks of working from home, which makes them a potential target for criminal activity.

All remote workers should be aware of the risks associated with remote working and ensure they are properly equipped to cope with any potential threats.

Adversarial attacks are based on impersonation and are capable of breaching the systems of remote workers. The key is to make the victim believe they are communicating with someone they are not.

How Do You Manage the Risks of Remote Working?

Security is already a huge issue for employees when working from home. Some organisations are creating strong employee-centric safety nets for remote workers to ensure their security. The Vault Telemedicine Protocol is a great example of this.

The Vault Telemedicine Protocol is a security standard for medical records that operates on a peer-to-peer model. Instead of a central server where the medical records reside, each patient’s medical record is stored on their own device (including tablets, laptops, and smartphones) with their medical information visible only to their home networks.

An audit of the Vault Telemedicine Protocol can help track down rogue activity (such as a cybercriminal who compromises an individual’s med

You must manage the security risks of your employees, whether they are at work, at home, or in shared workspaces.

Because of the difficulty in organising employees and complying with lockdown restrictions, regulators such as the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office), have been lenient regarding possible data protection violations during this pandemic.

It’s important to not get left behind now that most countries are returning to business as usual.