A hybrid working mode has made the traditional desk-pinned office settings more dynamic. It allows companies to manage their workforce effectively, all the while giving flexibility to employees.
From one perspective, this leads to increased productivity and decreased living costs and commuting for employees. However, hybrid work also elevates data security concerns now that the employees are working outside the safe haven of office network.
By implementing modern techniques, we can take full advantage of a hybrid working model without compromising data security.
Looking After Home Network
A hybrid work involves a mixture of in-office and remote locations for work purposes. On the one hand, an office network ensures firewalls, network monitoring, software patches, and more. On the other, we have a vulnerable home wifi network, as well as unsecured personal devices, weak passwords, absence of anti-virus, etc.
A hybrid work environment greatly depends on employees to take ensure cyber security. Relying on a home network for office work means having unauthorized people share the same network. Factor in personal devices for completing office work, and home settings become a sweet spot for cyberattacks.
Managing cyber risk in hybrid workplaces should involve security awareness. More specifically, employees should be informed how their digital can compromise the company’s cyber security, including best practices to avoid unfavorable situations.
Measures such as strong passwords, ensuring version updates, and handling information sensitively, can greatly help mitigate security threats in home settings.
Tracking Down Devices
While working in a hybrid model, employees frequently travel between office and home. Although this creates flexibility for employees, it also makes the company’s devices and data vulnerable to unauthorized access.
Traveling to and fro means carrying work devices across different places. So, while you go pick up your coffee from Starbucks, you might leave behind your work laptop in an unlocked car. Forgetting your phone at the office desk or getting your laptop picked up by a colleague are other potential outcomes of neglectfulness.
Not to mention, it takes a huge amount of money to track and investigate missing devices with third-party forensic and legal teams.
Organizations must be willing to invest in tracking software to get around this challenge. For instance, there are softwares that allow locating phones/laptops within meters of their real-time location. The more efficient these solutions are, the lesser would be the chances of the infringement of customer and company data.
Locking And Wiping Out Data
As part of a cybersecurity risk management plan, an organization must be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Device tracking is the first step; however, other measures should be taken to eliminate the risk of a data breach as the devices fall prey to unauthorized access.
Two pivotal tools in these unfortunate circumstances could be the “lock” and “wipe” functions. With the locking feature, a device could be logged out or rebooted remotely. This would force the user to re-enter credentials for gaining access. In some cases, they might even be prompted to set up a new password, strengthening the authentication process.
In a more critical situation, “wiping” the data altogether might be a more permanent and better solution. Using Remote Wipe functionality, a security administrator could destroy a device’s data, rendering it inaccessible to the suspect.
