The coronavirus pandemic has created a new reality , defining the way companies operate, dictating their next steps and eliminating barriers to safety and physical work. A study by Global Workplace Analytics in the United States identified that having employees working from home during the pandemic saved American employees by more than US$30 billion per day. In comparison, this is the net profit of the giant Apple for the last entire year.
Also in the United States, the study predicted that 25 to 30% of workers are working from home, and will remain at least until 2021. This represents numerous challenges for IT security teams.
In Brazil, working outside the office, or home office , is also a reality that many companies have adopted as a measure to protect employees at this time, and which could affect 20 million Brazilians, according to a survey by the Institute for Applied Economic Research ( Ipea ). . This means that one in five formal workers , on average, in the country, will be able to remain at home when the public health crisis passes.
Habitual behavior
Typically, the assumption made by organizations in relation to company network security monitoring is that the majority of employees are connected directly to the corporate LAN network, collecting data, with event logs from the server and workstations. However, with many employees away from the network perimeter, using mobile devices or in a remote home environment, organizations have lost all visibility into a large percentage of business network traffic.
This scenario is highly attractive and offers great chances of leveraging the actions of cybercriminals, who have increased the volume of efforts recently, trying to break down the security barriers weakened by the situation.
With so much information at stake, it is important to establish ways to monitor remote work security in the “new normal,” where physical connections and relationships are disappearing.
Below, we will list some tips for adapting your company to this new reality.
1. Increase local network borders
With much of staff working from home, many organizations have been forced to choose between usability and network security. VPN infrastructure was not designed to provide a solution for both factors.
The adoption of VPNs has been strongly recommended as a solution to remote access and security problems, and we even address the advantages of the tool in an article here on our blog. However, although it allows traffic connected to the internet and the corporate network to flow safely, it reduces productivity and does not control access outside the scope of work by teams.
With unmonitored connections, a remote work team's equipment can be compromised by malware and a series of other problems. In this way, these devices can be used as a springboard to access the corporate environment, including through their VPN connection.
In addition to safety and productivity, there are numerous factors that can cause damage to the company's natural workflow. We have listed some tools so that your office continues to function “normally” amid the pandemic.
2. Security at the ends
The limits of the local network were expanded with the team working from home. Therefore, the company's security and productivity also require expansion to all devices. Companies need to at least have the same level of control and security as when activities were carried out within the corporate environment.
By deploying cloud-based control and security on company-owned devices used by remote workers, the organization can detect all unauthorized access, points of weakness, and most importantly, prevent infection from malware, viruses, ransomware and other threats. .
In addition to security, with a control tool, it is possible to improve the productivity of the team that is working from home, monitoring and dynamically managing access easily, and making the remote experience as similar as possible to the reality before the pandemic.
3. Guarantee employee privacy when working from home
Monitoring access and maintaining employee security when working from home can be a problem for many organizations, taking into account worker privacy. On the organization's side, it is your duty to demand the ability to protect confidential data used by employees for daily work. On the employee side, implementing a home network monitoring solution presents important privacy issues.
The solution to this is a cloud-based control and security system, as we said previously, it provides a viable solution to both problems. For corporate-owned devices, the company's security policy and rules must have a clear and explicit understanding that allows the organization to monitor activity on company devices.
With the solution installed on these devices, the organization then exercises its rights and rules without inappropriately monitoring employee network activity on personal devices connected to the same home network. In short, company control will only be carried out on the specific device that is remotely connected to the company's local network during working hours.
A good example of a tool for security when working remotely is Lumiun's Business VPN . A great advantage of Lumiun's Corporate VPN over other Corporate VPN solutions is that it applies to employees who are working remotely, in a home office, the same rules for protecting and monitoring internet access that exist on the company's internal network. internet usage policy remains in force , with the aim of improving information security and employee productivity.
Furthermore, it is a Brazilian solution, with 100% support in Portuguese and which receives payments in local currency (R$).
4. Monitor personal devices
For personal devices used for remote work, the line between privacy and security is blurred. As the equipment belongs to the employee, it may seem more difficult to enforce access and security rules and controls.
Therefore, all organizations must develop and document a policy so that the use of personally owned devices complies with the needs of the company.
With this in mind, using a access control does not affect any problem related to the privacy of employees working from home. Furthermore, it keeps company data safe even when using a device that does not belong to it.
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