Telecommuting, Cloud & Cybersecurity, A Reality Within The Reach Of Any Business
Remote work has a great acceptance in the labor market and is becoming one of the main benefits that a company can offer its employees today. According to a survey supported by the Chamber of Commerce, 74% of people consider that their work allows them to telecommute totally or partially, and 84% would like to work between two and three days a week from outside the office.
Many companies have decided to migrate their data and applications to the cloud to facilitate access to information, which undoubtedly offers multiple benefits. So far, so good, but has the security of access to that information been taken care of as it deserves to face threats, or has it been left in the background?
In this sense, the data is not very optimistic if you take into account various studies that show how there is a large gap between the rapid growth of cloud storage and the resources dedicated to its protection. The consequences of not prioritizing security can be dire for the organization, especially if we consider that almost half of cyber threats originate in the public cloud.
As teleworking and, therefore, remote access to applications and data in the cloud is enhanced, workers’ systems and equipment are more exposed as the attack surface expands, since they are no longer under the protection provided by the company’s perimeter. Also, cyber attackers have not hesitated to profit from the pandemic by distributing malware by exploiting the need for information generated by the disease, either through phishing techniques or with domains that control COVID-19.
Emulate the office environment safely. To adequately protect themselves and avoid further damage, company managers must raise awareness among employees and instill in them an absolute priority on proper safety hygiene to avoid potential risks. Access to the corporate infrastructure and network must be protected in all areas and endpoints, both at the human level and equipment, systems, or connections.
Establishing general security policies, such as not opening emails with attachments from unknown sources, not recycling passwords and changing them periodically, looking for formulas that are difficult to crack, or keeping the system and applications updated, can help a lot.
As far as equipment is concerned, it must be protected with advanced cybersecurity solutions that offer 360º visibility of all endpoints. Also, the connection between said computer and the corporate network must be covered by VPN connections, and a multi-factor authentication system (MFA) must be in place to prevent fraud. Finally, include firewalls (virtual or physical) to block insecure traffic, and incorporate monitoring services for systems, networks, applications, and users with which data is monitored -especially those of a personal nature that are unstructured on computers- and access, will make telecommuting and cloud business a secure reality.
