Remote Working During Lockdown – How Companies Keep Their Data Secured

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

As the pandemic grew, and swept all over the globe, a lot of companies were left with no option but to switch to remote working. Fortunately, a lot of companies had experimented with this before, or had some remote staff that they could use as a guideline, but adapting was always going to be difficult.

Some of the challenges when switching to remote working include keeping staff motivated and productive. The management structure you have cannot have such a close overview of what is happening every day. Software such as Zoom has helped with communication, while team and project management software has also seen a boom since Covid-19 started to cause remote or nationalized lockdowns.

Security Risks of Remote Work

● Unsecured networks. Is your employees using secure Wi-Fi and an unsecured network can cause privacy breaches and the stealing of data.

● Email breaches can occur easily as people contact each other from afar. A study from Egress found that 93% of 538 IT leaders surveyed reported an email breach in the past year. This can be as simple as accidentally sending an email to the wrong person.

● Phishing attacks can be a big problem, especially if someone is also using the computer for personal use. This is one of the reasons why it is such a good idea to issue a specific work upgradeable laptop or computer, and not encourage staff to handle any sensitive data on their own computer.

● Public computers or sharing computers. You might not be the only person to use the device, but every additional person increases the chances that something might go wrong, such as a phishing attack or breach of data.

How Companies Can Keep Their Data Secured

Although there are a lot of risks, there are plenty of steps you can take to try and mitigate these risks and keep your data as secure as possible. Both software and just good practice spread throughout your company can avoid too many issues around data breaches or other security issues that can stem from staff working from home.

What are some of the things companies can do to keep their data secured?

● Training: Keeping your staff fully-trained and aware of the risks involved, and some of the things they can do day-to-day that will stop the chances of data being stolen. This might be as simple as spotting phishing emails or learning to use secured Wifi.

● Antivirus: Viruses can undeniably cause data breaches and installing software on all of the computers used in the organization seems like a big task, but it is one that could be very worthwhile.

● Cloud storage: Keeping all of the files on a server on the cloud means that you can control who is accessing it at all times, and avoid issues such as people unsecurely saving their files and allowing breaches from a personal computer. Sensitive data needs to be dealt with in a professional way. USB sticks and hard drives increase the risks even further.

● Have data security business policies: These may relate to changes of passwords, use of company emails or anything else that you think will help protect the business.

Conclusion

Lockdowns around the world have made us address our digital security even more than before. As an employer, it is your responsibility to put processes and protection in place to avoid a catastrophe. A breach of customer data or sensitive business information could even be the end of your business, and some of the tips above can help you to keep your data secure at all times, even throughout remote working.