Is security in teleworking a task for companies?

The situation experienced in recent months has accelerated the process of digitalisation of companies, making teleworking part of their own philosophy, but are companies really prepared to work remotely in a secure manner?

The lockdown has made the future that could already be glimpsed suddenly become an unavoidable present. However, abrupt changes are often difficult to deal with. In this respect, it has become clear that companies, although they have reacted quickly, were not yet prepared for remote working on a massive scale. Provisional measures have been adopted and now need to be reviewed, especially as far as security is concerned.

Teleworking solutions have been implemented either by providing employees with the equipment they normally use in the office to take home, or by employees using their PCs for work. Both measures, although effective in providing a rapid response to the increase in demand for teleworking, represent a major security flaw, resulting in an increase in vulnerabilities and therefore in cyber-attacks. The increase in insecurity is not only due to this, but also to the very increase in the use of the digital environment.

Major Hacking

No company, regardless of its size, is safe from a cyber attack. In recent months there has been an increase of around 30% in incidents related to information security. The most frequent crimes include:

• Fraud. 95% have been initiated by sending fraudulent or phishing emails. The opening of these malicious links triggers numerous attacks and information theft.
• Data hijacking. Illicit access to data or files through malware to subsequently encrypt them, kidnap them, and extort the owner is a widespread form of extortion. The most well known of these is ramsomware.
• Identity theft. One of the most important factors in protecting data is the identification of individuals. The traditional scheme of logging in with a password is no longer safe. We must ensure that the person who accesses a device is who they say they are.

How to protect yourself

Once the peak of rapid adoption of teleworking solutions has been overcome, a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy must be developed to enable the company to continue to work and produce safely and without incurring major costs. It is essential to do so:

• To have an efficient security system that protects users’ remote connections to the corporate network with the same guarantees that they have when they are inside the perimeter; in other words, the security with which employees work when they are in the office must be transferred to the cloud applications that they use for teleworking.
• Train users, who remain the most frequent attack vector and need to be aware of the threats they face when outside the perimeter of their company’s network.
• Conduct security audits to identify, describe and assess the vulnerabilities to which your infrastructure is exposed, so that you can make the most appropriate decisions and establish recovery and/or contingency plans (DRP).

Main concerns about safety and telework

• To have secure collaborative tools.
• To protect the vulnerabilities of mobile users, when they access corporate networks remotely.
• That each and every user connects to a secure IP.
• Learn about the main security threats that are affecting you in real time.
• Preserve and measure employee productivity.
• How to know that the employee accessing the corporate network is who he or she says he or she is.

A solution for every environment

Every organisation works in a different way, so it needs a solution tailored to its needs. It is necessary to establish a suitable solution for each environment, so we put at your disposal some of the most popular and effective ones:

The implementation of teleworking has exploded in recent months. According to Statista’s data, in 2018 only 4.3% of Spanish employees claimed to work from home on a regular basis. In the last quarter of 2019, according to the Monitor Adecco de Oportunidades y Satisfacción en el Empleo (“Adecco Monitor of Opportunities and Job Satisfaction”) report, the figure reached 7.9% of employed people. This number is growing day by day.

The boom in teleworking has meant that companies have sent their professionals home so that they can continue to carry out their duties normally, taking their equipment with them and connecting it to the home network for Internet and electricity, with the consequent risks of both cyber attacks and power cuts.

A power cut prevents employees from continuing with their work and, as a result, delays the delivery of their work proposals. In this sense, many organisations have equipped their workers with certified power strips to protect against voltage peaks or with small uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) that protect the Internet access point (router) so that, if the electrical network suffers any mishap, their equipment can continue to operate normally.

Conclusion

The digitisation process must be approached taking into account the specific features of each organisation and, as always, we recommend that you consult a trusted partner to help you assess the best option for your business.