The coronavirus pandemic is making significant impacts on today’s workforce. One of these is the transition to working remotely for millions of people across the globe. A year later and many of us are still working from home. Some of us have even made this a permanent transition. However, this shift to remote work has generated a surge in security breaches, increasing the importance of proactive monitoring.
A spike in cyberattacks for remote workers
With millions of people working from home, companies are becoming more vulnerable to cyberattacks. According to software and security company VMWare Carbon Black, ransomware attacks have double during the pandemic. And Breadcrumb Cybersecurity CEO Brian Horton explained that working away from the office can make an employee far more vulnerable to a hack. Horton claims that “When organizations moved to a work-from-home context, they inherited the security risk of the employee’s personal home network.” He explains that “Whereas traditionally, they would focus on securing organizational assets, employers were left scrambling to secure remote work environments.”
When your employees are working from the office, IT teams have more control and better defenses in place to prevent cyberattacks. As employees work from home, they become more vulnerable as they work on unsecured networks, work-related files on personal devices, and begin to use their work computers to view personal, sensitive data. It’s easier for IT professionals to proactively monitor these risks in the office and stop them from wreaking havoc on their companies. However, with working from home becoming the new normal, IT folks will have to be on their toes to keep their employees and company safe from these attacks.
What can employers do to mitigate these WFH cyberattacks?
So, what can your IT team do to mitigate these WFH cyberattacks?
Share best practices
One of the easiest ways to reduce your company’s vulnerability to cyberattacks is to share best practices with your staff. Send regular emails with your company’s IT policies and procedures to reduce your risk of these attacks. Make these practices and rules visible to your team, and encourage them to ask questions or report suspicious activity.
Proactively monitor network
With your staff more aware of potential security risks, your team can now focus on proactively monitoring your network. Moreover, your team must continuously monitor your network to avoid any issues with systems and ensure your network operates smoothly. Proactive monitoring will help your team identify problems ahead of time and avoid costly downtime.
Work with an IT consulting firm
If your team doesn’t have the bandwidth to monitor your network proactively, it may be time to outsource it with a professional. Internal IT teams have their hands full, with most of the company’s staff working remotely. Partner with an IT consulting firm like JSG to keep your systems running safely. JSG offers proactive monitoring solutions to create escalation alerts, fault monitoring, firewall activity, and so much more. We can create a custom solution to keep your data and employees safe by proactively monitoring your systems 24/7/365. So, if this sounds like a good fit for your company, reach out to our IT experts today!
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