COVID 19 Outbreak: Time To Strengthen The CyberSecurity While Employees Are Working From Home
The outbreak of COVID 19 has made the world standstill. We are all in this together and doing everything possible to get over this situation and stop the further spread of this deadly virus. Organizations around the globe are being sensitive to this situation and therefore, are allowing the employees/students to work/study from home. Every day the number of people working from home is increasing and this is giving rise to another concern: the safety of the organizations’ network and valuable data. Working in the times of Coronavirus indeed is a reminder of the importance of safety and security in every aspect of life.
Why Should Organisations Think About Improving Cyber Security?
- Cybercriminal does not sensitize to the crisis the world is going through. For them, it is a great opportunity to exploit this situation and enter into an organization’s network at the first available opportunity.
- Many organizations might not be ready for allowing their employees to work remotely and so they might be lacking the required level of security.
- Many people must be working from home for the first time or not used to of it and might not be having much idea of the various ways in which they can unknowingly lead to the breach of the security.
Let’s have a detailed look at the major possible reasons that might result in the loss of the precious data, while the employees work from home.
Are The Employees Prepared With The Required Infrastructure?
Internet Speed
While choosing an internet service at home, we mostly pay attention to the download speed. But working from home also needs good upload speed.
Security
- It is absolutely compulsory to work on a password protected internet service, as internet services used at home are always much more vulnerable as compared to the internet services for professional use.
Secured home network
- Internet at home is mostly connected to multiple devices used for personal reasons. Those devices like tv/music players are not updated against threats regularly. This makes it easier to hack the network.
Separate device for official use
- Systems/laptops used for official purposes must not be used for personal reasons.
- Similarly, personal devices shouldn’t be used for official purposes. These devices are prone to a physical breach in case they are lost.
Phishing awareness
- Employees must be aware of the various phishing ideas to not get trapped by them.
No use of open wi-fi
- Working from any public place like a cafe or using an open wi-fi should be avoided at any cost.
Responsibility
- Security instructions from the organization must be followed religiously. Remember that you are responsible not only for your work but also for the image of the organization.
Measures That Must Be Taken By The Organisations
It is obvious that this sudden spread of Coronavirus has left the organizations with no time to plan the strategy or to train their workforce to deal with the security breaches. Because of this, there is an immediate need to update/upgrade the security systems and to manage the security of data on the employee’s part as well.
- Organizations must provide Laptops, chargers, headsets, remote desktop environments, VPNs etc to as many employees as possible.
- Must check the capacity of VPNs to be able to connect the huge workforce at one time.
- Make the employees aware of the malicious sites and discourage them to browse those sites.
- Equip the employee devices with the security software and the latest manufacturer software updates.
- Multifactor authentication must be used for each login to a company portal.
- Prohibiting the use of open wi-fi for the official device.
- Reminding the workforce about different ways in which they can be trapped like a phishing email on Corona, appearing to be the company’s policy.
If you think that handling the higher security level of your organization under this emergency situation is difficult, you can seek professional help and services from Infosectrain. For more information regarding the various services offered here, please visit www.infosectrain.com. Always remember whether it is securing your network or washing your hands, prevention is always better than cure.
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