Five Tips for Keeping Your IT Infrastructure Secure While Working Remotely

With many businesses transitioning their employees to working remotely, it’s more important than ever to ensure your organization has the proper security measures in place and that you train your employees on recognizing security threats.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when managing a remote workforce:

1. Audit your cybersecurity systems, framework and processes

This is the most important exercise on the list, as long as you follow through with it. Review your security software…are all the licenses up-to-date and have they been pushed out to all users? Run vulnerability scans on your systems to identify weaknesses and take the necessary steps to strengthen those gaps.

2. Regularly train and test your staff to identify and avoid security threats

You can put all the right security measures in place, but still have a major issue if one of your employees clicks a link in a fraudulent email, making this priority #2 on our list. Utilize your company intranet or staff meetings to give quick updates on the latest phishing attacks. Many cybersecurity companies offer training programs you can enroll in which offer videos and can even send your staff fake phishing emails to test their knowledge. And tell your team why you do this – show them the eye-opening statistics of how much money is lost due to cyberattacks each year.

3. Require additional layers of security to access network

Many options to add another layer of protection to your network are available, and the sensitivity of the data on your network may help you determine just how many layers you’ll need. For example, a landscaping company likely doesn’t need quite the level of security as a bank. But even landscapers take credit cards and have bank accounts, so don’t be so naïve to think your business is too small or that nobody would want the information you possess.

4. Discourage the use of personal devices for work

How many games of Fortnite has your 13-year-old played on your home computer? How many times have you clicked through an ad in Facebook or on a website? Do you keep your home computer’s antivirus software up to date? Do your employees update their antivirus software too? You’ll never know what all is on their computers so discourage your staff from using their personal devices to access your network.

5. Encourage users to take additional security precautions on their home wi-fi networks

Likewise, with your employee’s home wi-fi network, you don’t know if it’s password protected or if the guy across the street is riding their wi-fi to hack into bank accounts. Encourage your staff to password protect their home wi-fi network, add a guest (password-protected) wireless network that is segregated from their home network for work use, and to enable secure DNS on their router. The latter may require some handholding from your IT department, but worth the effort.

Shifting employees back to your workplace is going to take planning and probably won’t happen overnight. You’ll continue to have employees working remotely so it’s’ a good time to help them brush up on technology security measures.

This content was created during a snapshot in time and should be relied upon as such. Legislation and guidance continue to change as we progress through the current fluid environment and the information may not be applicable at a later date.  All content and materials are for general information purposes only. If you have questions regarding your specific situation, please contact us.