What is the cause of security problems?
This is partly due to the fact that most companies do not
Japanese software companyCybersecurity Software Trend Micro conducted a global survey based on responses from over 13,000 telecommuters in 27 countries. With 78% of respondents working from home during the pandemic, the results will help CIOs take concrete steps to address cybersecurity issues for telecommuters.
No two employees are alike
The authors of the study worked with an independent expert in the field of cyberpsychology, Dr. Linda K.It turned out that in every organization there are different types of employees who perceive differentlyKay is confident that dialogue with staff, more effective training, and staff awareness will help.The fact is that many people simply do not knowor do not understand the problem or do not consider it to be significant.
But there is good news as well.
Despite physical isolation from colleagues andexecutives, the overwhelming majority of employees (72%) in the survey said they became more concerned about cybersecurity while isolated and working from home. Only 4% of respondents admitted that they began to pay less attention to the problem.
But what does this mean in practice?
The biggest security threat is the use of a non-working application for the company's business.Experts recommend using approved enterprise platforms to send important work files, taking IT team instructions seriously, as 85% said, and agreeing with what they carryAn important responsibility for ensuring the security of the organization.
In addition, experts pay attention to the questionuse of email. For example, many security problems in companies have been caused by the trivial opening of questionable emails. People fall for the bait for attractive offers like free cloud storage or faster internet speeds. This is especially dangerous when employees use corporate laptops (if provided by the company).
However, this problem can be solved by training security personnel on the Internet.
The main threats
The good news ends there. During their research, security experts also discovered poor security practices that could expose organizations to serious cyber risks.
- Using Unsecured Wi-Fi
Nearly 40% of respondents said they always or often useThis potentially provides an opportunity for attackers to examine browsing histories and confiscate passwords.A third of those surveyed admitted that they even worked with confidential documents in public places.This greatly simplifies access to obtaining classified information without the use of tracking devices by fraudsters.
- Work laptops are exposed to network threats
Only 20% of those surveyed said they never use their work laptops for personal purposes.More than a third do it freely, and another 45% do it only during business trips.Experts warn that this threatens to expose corporate data to malware, which is often found on torrent sites, unapproved app stores, sites with adult content, and more.D.
- Unprotected PCs are used to access work data
The use ofremote employees of their own potentially less secure devices to access corporate systems. 40% of respondents said they do this often or on a regular basis.
- Using third-party applications
Even more worrying for experts is the fact that 40% of remote workers are systematically uploadingWhile these may be legitimate apps, they may be legitimate apps.the fact that they are not sanctioned by the IT department exacerbates the security issues.
What can be done?
Despite the multitude of threats, companies can do much to mitigate the consequences of risky employee behavior even in the context of massive remote work, experts say.
IT security managers must combinestrict company policies regarding the acceptable use of corporate data, with regular risk assessments of the data available to various employees and methodological education and training of personnel. Employees who work remotely must know how to detect phishing attacks. For this, experts suggest using practical tasks and modeling various situations to change behavior.
Remote work will sooner or later becomeeverywhere, regardless of the epidemiological situation, analysts predict. Now that the initial problems of organizing a remote office have been resolved, it is time to start full-scale work to reduce the risks identified in the study.
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