With the recent global pandemic, many organizations have been forced to have a large part of their workforce work remotely. Many employees and collaborators, therefore, now find themselves working from home, often for the first time.
In these conditions, it is essential to continue to be vigilant regarding information security, especially when working outside the office. In this article, we want to remind you of some good practices and give you some tips and suggestions to safeguard the information assets of your organizations.
The first piece of advice we offer if you find yourself managing collaborators who work from home is to try to have them establish a new routine to separate work from personal activities. For anyone, in fact, it can be tempting to take a few minutes from work to make an online purchase on the fly or to check personal email or social media during a short break but, even if they may seem harmless, these activities can potentially expose the computer to malware or other viruses that could compromise the security of the computer used for work.
If you give your people a computer to work from home, then make sure it is only used for carrying out work activities. If, instead, collaborators use their own devices to work and connect to the company information system, consider having them create a separate user to be used only for work activity.
Also, pay attention to emails that aim at phishing: times of crisis such as the current pandemic are often exploited by malicious people to seek new opportunities to gain unauthorized access to company information systems. Taking advantage of people's uncertainty and anxiety is a common tactic by those seeking to access personal information and sensitive company data.
These attacks could, for example, come in the form of emails from people you work with whose accounts have already been compromised, and could take the form of legitimate requests. Inform those who work for you that if they receive emails that seem suspicious, especially containing instructions to click on links or to open attachments, they should take care to report them to your IT team and get their OK before clicking on anything. By emphasizing making remote users operational, it is essential to make it clear that Data security is a priority and clearly communicate your policies in this regard.
It is important, in fact, that collaborators understand what is expected of them when they work outside the organization regarding information security and access to the company system remotely. If formal policies are not in place, this is the right time to determine at least some guidelines regarding remote work, providing specific guidance on how to connect to corporate resources, on which personal devices, if any, can be used for work, and on who to contact if you have any questions or concerns.
If users do not know, in fact, who to turn to for help, they will most likely not report doubts or problems and will put themselves in danger without even knowing it. Highlight security as a priority during this chaotic period because, most likely, it is not at the top of your collaborators' concerns, also because of the uncertain climate that exists and that leads us to lower our guard on normal IT operations.
Make sure to clearly communicate to staff the importance of safeguarding the company, its resources, and information, as well as clearly identify the appropriate methods of contact. Another idea, if possible, is to provide some training because this may be the first time ever that many of your collaborators have the opportunity to work outside the office.
Finally, assess the risks that are new or that have undergone changes due to the situation and take the necessary measures. Think about the different roles that exist in your organization and how each person is accessing remotely and establish, for example, whether additional encryption, more rigorous user authentication, etc., is necessary.