In the wake of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), many businesses including data entry companies are adopting effective measures to fight the dangerous infection. Many companies are asking their workers to work from home so as to prevent the disease from spreading. In other words, remote working is becoming the norm and may continue to be so until the virus infection is contained to some extent. Remote workers can communicate with each other using email, instant messaging, teleconferencing and so on. This is the only way to ensure the “social distancing” that is required at present.
Remote working may carry some security risks. Let us consider the major risks involved.
- Possibility of malware attacks: The coronavirus has created a sensitive environment and there may be increased attempts by hackers at attacking your systems. When the employees are working away from the office, the security policies you have put in place will no longer be effective. As an article in The Daily Swig points out, over the past few weeks there have been a number of malware and phishing campaigns targeted at remote workers. Among the malware identified are Agent Tesla, NonoCare, LokiBot, FormBook, Hawkeye, TrickBot and niRAT. All these malware have keylogging functionality and this makes endpoint security against keyloggers for home workers crucial. Another problem is that home-based workers tend to get easily distracted and may mix work with personal email and internet browsing. This is likely to increase the risks because these workers may click on malware links inadvertently.
- Increased chance of data breach: Though many companies have implemented strongly secured on-premise and cloud storage options, work from home policies entail people working beyond the limits of the company’s secure networks. Companies have limited control over the security features of unmanaged endpoints such as mobile phones, laptops or other devices that may only have conventional security software. The company loses control over the user’s environment and in addition, will find it challenging to provide their workers with secure access to IT resources.
So, what are some best practices you can follow to ensure maximum security with your employees working remotely?
- Utilize VPNs so that you can avoid exposing your business network to the public internet and secure it effectively. VPNs will enable companies to provide employees secure access to company apps and resources. It will ensure that all communications stay secure from hostile outside agencies irrespective of home network security and configurations.
- Make sure that the operating system, browsers, apps, and other software are of the latest versions.
- Before the transition to remote working, migrate all login details, passwords and so on to a remotely accessible password manager.
- Implement security solutions that are easy to deploy and configure such as anti-keylogging software so that you can protect data entry on BYOD and any unmanaged application.
- Enable two-factor authentication and avoid clicking on suspicious links.
- Instruct employees not to use free online collaboration tools or affordable white boarding services.
Security is absolutely important whether you are utilizing outsourced solutions such as data conversion services, partnering with an outside agency for some other business purpose, or implementing work-at-home policies for your staff. What is important for organizations is that they need to find solutions that can be quickly deployed without special configuration. Having access to a portal that allows simple configuration by administrators is also vital. The employees themselves need to be warned about the current security risks and how best to prevent any such risk. For this, companies must make sure that their employees are educated on this matter and made aware of the importance of following all new security guidelines. It would be a good idea for businesses to provide their employees with dedicated operating systems to access sensitive resources, as experts point out. The priority of companies must be to ensure that their sensitive data is “isolated” and secured so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
