Remote working has become increasingly common since digital transformation has taken place in the working structure of companies. Especially after the pandemic, companies switched to remote working to protect the company and its employees in many ways. According to a global , in 2022, 67 percent of respondents said the main benefit to remote working worldwide was the ability to have a flexible schedule which they said was the biggest benefit of remote working.
Many companies are concerned about the security of the infrastructure they use for remote work. Being safe while working from home has become vital for companies. This necessitated getting help from occupational safety practices such as the , which deals with the security and safety problem from every aspect.
In the period of remote working, companies started to use remote secure access systems more frequently in order to provide their employees with access to corporate assets. These systems should be secured for employees, data privacy, internal and external threats, and more.
What Are The Best Practices for Secure Remote Working?
Implementing every step of remote work safety practices is very important to prevent all kinds of security vulnerabilities, prevent threats, and ensure the confidentiality of data and the safety of employees.
Adopting Zero Trust Network Access
Alternative approaches are needed to authenticate their identity and authenticate access to the corporate network. The Zero Trust model is based on the “trust none, verify all” mentality. ZTNA provides a seamless and secure connection without placing users on the network and opening applications to internet access.
Storing in the cloud systems
Rather than physical storage, the way to secure storage is through cloud systems. Cloud storage architecture is more scalable and easier to manage than physical storage. You can use industry-leading encryption practices through multiple protocols with easy employee access and the highest encryption standard, while also securing cloud-based resources.
Using strong passwords
Changing your passwords frequently and setting up password managers ensure that your passwords are always safe. To minimize security risks, the same password should not be used in multiple places. To eliminate these risks, you should use passwords that are unique and meet security standards.
Paying attention to WiFi security
To establish a secure connection and limit unauthorized access, companies may offer Wi-Fi router hardware that can implement a variety of security measures. This minimizes the potential for breaches and threats of any size to turn into massive cyberattacks.
Providing traceability
Security should be provided in such a way that monitoring, research, and investigation of unexpected events can be carried out on the network. It is necessary to keep detailed data of all remotely connected systems, send them to the SIEM, and monitor alarms. In this way, it becomes easier to understand what is happening during a possible violation and incident response processes are accelerated.
What Should Security Systems Provide?
These days when remote working is quite common, companies are using remote secure access systems more regularly to offer their employees access to the company network. For the implementation of corporate security policies, it is necessary to ensure that the systems providing remote access are securely configured. Here are the things that should be provided by security systems:
- Configure the system securely according to best practices,
- The cryptographic algorithms to be used are up-to-date,
- Having the latest security updates applied,
- Being able to control that the related systems are configured in a redundant structure (high availability) and that the redundancy function is working in order to ensure business continuity in case of a possible failure,
- Checking whether it is positioned to pass through network security systems such as firewall (FW) and intrusion prevention system (IPS) when accessing corporate systems from the network location where network traffic is located,
- and taking necessary precautions against denial of service/distributed denial of service (DoS/DDoS) attacks.
Why Should You Choose Remote Working?
Since remote working is a system that increases the productivity of the employees, companies can get more efficiency from the remote working system. In addition to this, the remote working systems reduce the costs of the companies and allow them to benefit from many advantages.
The benefits of remote working for companies include
- better work-life balance,
- the opportunity to practice flexible working hours,
- more physical activity,
- lower operating costs for companies,
- less time spent in traffic and on the roads,
- a reduction in air pollution in urban areas,
- and physical and mental health and social well-being.
Remote working provides such advantages as above for both employees and business owners. For this reason, companies choosing to work remotely for both themselves and their employees gain these benefits.
Conclusion
Recently, remote working has saved lives during the new normal pandemic process. However, remote workers may be unwittingly putting your company’s critical data at risk. Working remotely can potentially lead to data breaches, identity fraud, internal and external threats, and a host of other negative consequences. Implementing best practices and leveraging security systems to minimize the cybersecurity risks that remote workers can pose for your company can minimize these risks.