How to Navigate Cybersecurity Challenges in Your Hybrid Workplace
How to Navigate Cybersecurity Challenges in Your Hybrid Workplace
As nice as it would be to see the COVID-19 pandemic fade into the history books, the reality is that it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. One upside of the forced change in our working conditions is that the days of dealing with a long commute just to sit in a cramped cubicle for an additional eight hours may never return. The pandemic has shown us all that, in many cases, there are much better ways to work.
Increased Risks of Cyberattacks
One downside to the recent trend of working from home or other remote locations is the increased risk of cyberattacks. On average, SMBs (Server Message Blocks) experience at least eight hours of downtime during a breach, often more, and the use of unsecured home networks for work-related issues presents a great opportunity for hackers and other malicious individuals to attack a system. Combined with stolen or lost devices and shoddy firewall patching, and you have a recipe for disaster.
There are many tech solutions that address some of these problems, but rarely do they tackle all of them at once. Here are a few tech solutions that can help you navigate cybersecurity challenges in your hybrid workspace
Support Workers With the Proper Tools
Supporting workers with tools such as secure cloud solutions like DropBox is only the first step to building a secure work environment. Other tools to consider include password managers such as LastPass, video conferencing options like Zoom, and project management and collaboration applications such as Microsoft Project and Microsoft Teams.
Use Multiple Layers of Security
Basic encryption and MFA (multi-factor authentication) should be standard practices in any hybrid workspace, but adding additional layers of security such as advanced email filtering and endpoint protection is never a bad idea, especially when dealing with sensitive data. It’s also important to avoid shadow IT, IT devices and programs brought on without explicit IT approval.
Navigating cybersecurity threats to your hybrid workspace can be a headache, but by being proactive and implementing multi-layered security measures from the beginning, you can drastically reduce your risk of an issue. Ongoing cybersecurity awareness training is also a great investment to make into any workspace that wants to continue using the work-from-home model of the pandemic.