Here, I will talk about navigating cybersecurity challenges in remote work environment.
The shift to remote work during the pandemic has brought numerous benefits, like flexibility and work-life balance improvements for employees. However, it has also introduced new cybersecurity risks that organizations must address.
With employees accessing company data and systems from home networks, the attack surface has expanded. Cybercriminals are continuously evolving their techniques to exploit vulnerabilities in this new remote work environment.
The average cost of a data breach worldwide is around 4.35 million US dollars, but financial consequences depend on various factors like region, organization size, and industry.
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Major Challenges in Managing Cybersecurity in Remote Work Environment
One of the key cybersecurity challenges stemming from remote work is managed third party risk. When employees log into company networks from personal devices and home networks, these third party systems become part of the organization's extended IT ecosystem.
This introduces risks from potential vulnerabilities in apps, devices, and networks outside the organization's control. Here are some ways organizations can navigate third party cybersecurity risks in a remote work environment:
Strengthen Vendor Risk ManagementÂ
With remote work, organizations are relying more on third party software, apps, and cloud services for operations. This means vendor risk management is more critical than ever.
Organizations need to thoroughly vet vendors, especially those that will handle sensitive data. Vendor risk assessments should examine a third party's data security policies, incident response plans, and compliance with regulations.
Once vendors are onboarded, organizations must continuously monitor them for changes in their risk profile. For example, if a vendor experiences a breach, that could impact your own cybersecurity.
Ongoing vendor audits and questionnaires help you keep tabs on third parties. Be sure to include cybersecurity requirements in vendor contracts to solidify their security obligations. Company-wide cybersecurity plan is a necessity and should be implemented when a vendor is onboarded.
Secure Employee Devices and Networks
Your employees' personal devices and home networks also carry cyber risk as entry points into corporate systems. Establishing device security baselines helps protect endpoints your employees use to access internal resources.
Require employees to keep devices and software up-to-date and enabled with endpoint security controls like antivirus. Multi-factor authentication adds another layer of access security.Â
Providing corporate-owned devices for your employees configured with VPN tools ensures you have more control over that hardware accessing your network.
Be sure to outline cybersecurity expectations and policies for employee-owned devices in your remote work guidelines. Also, educate employees on Wi-Fi security best practices for their home networks.
Limit Data Access
With many employees working remotely, it's important to limit access to sensitive company data based on necessity. Implement a zero trust model that requires identity verification and enforces least privilege access.
Integrate data loss prevention controls to prevent unauthorized sharing or exfiltration of important information. Data should also be encrypted both at rest and in transit for an added layer of protection.
These measures allow you to secure critical assets and proprietary data, even if an employee device or application is compromised. Strictly limit third party data sharing, and mask data where possible when giving external partners access.
Enhance Visibility Â
Gaining visibility into all devices, users, apps, and systems connected to your network is crucial for recognizing unusual third party access attempts.
Comprehensive network monitoring, security information and event management (SIEM), and endpoint detection and response (EDR) give you this visibility. Lookout for anomalous third party logins and data flows. Many solutions integrate AI and machine learning to identify suspicious patterns quickly.
Ensure you have asset inventories mapped out so you know exactly what third party components are integrated into your IT environment. This allows you to monitor their access and cyber risk potential.
Train Employees on Cybersecurity
Your employees are your last line of defense in cybersecurity. Provide regular cybersecurity awareness training to remote employees focused on identifying social engineering attacks, malware, unsafe web links, and other threats targeting remote workers.
Share guidelines on how employees can securely access internal systems and protect data in the field. Promote cyber secure habits on and off the job. This empowers your workforce to make smart security decisions.
It's also important to have protocols for employees to report cyber risks, like suspicious emails or unauthorized access attempts, to your IT team. This allows you to respond to potential third party threats swiftly.Â
Third Party Connections Expand the Threat Landscape
While remote work provides many advantages, it also greatly expands your cyber risk surface through third party devices, apps, networks, and more connecting to corporate data. Organizations can no longer just focus security efforts on their internal systems. Robust third-party risk management is imperative.
This means approaching security from the perspective that threats can emerge from any external component integrated into your IT systems. By implementing continuous third party risk assessments, enforcing least privilege access, monitoring for anomalies, and training employees on cybersecurity, organizations can manage these risks.
Conclusion
With strong third party cyber risk strategies, companies can harness the productivity and flexibility of remote work while keeping data, systems, and operations secure.
Maintaining watertight cybersecurity in today's interconnected remote work environment requires adjusting approaches to account for ubiquitous third party access points. But with the right policies, controls, and vigilance, organizations can navigate the rocky waters of cybersecurity challenges.
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About the Author:
Daniel Segun is the Founder and CEO of SecureBlitz Cybersecurity Media, with a background in Computer Science and Digital Marketing. When not writing, he's probably busy designing graphics or developing websites.
