Cybersecurity & COVID-19: Fixing Your Biggest Remote Work Problems

Working from home using our personal computers certainly invites security risks and challenges. But given the coronavirus pandemic, this is perhaps the most practical option to keep employees safe and keep business afloat, even as lockdown orders begin to lift.

While doing their part to flatten the curve, your whole organization should also be mindful of the security risks associated with this new setup.

Here are your biggest remote work problems and how you can limit the damage they cause.

Poor Cyber-Hygiene 

We’re in the middle of one of the most stressful and uncertain periods of modern humanity. It is understandable if a number of your employees are not in tiptop mental shape during this crisis.

A significant portion of them might be in their most vulnerable state. Brain fog can set in, and a critical cybersecurity mistake can happen.

You can mitigate this by doing the following:

1. Make sure that your employees’ firewalls and antivirus programs are regularly updated.
2. Let them use multi-factor authentication in both their work and personal accounts.
3. Email them regular cybersecurity tips and reminders, like how to spot phishing attacks.
4. Encourage each member to share their best practices. 

Skills Gap

In a recent study conducted by Help Net Security, 65% of the organizations they tracked reported a shortage of cybersecurity staff. Meanwhile, 36% of cybersecurity professionals lack proper skills or experience.

Different kinds of industries have encountered damaging cybersecurity skill gaps in their in-house IT staff. Their existing IT employees aren’t adept in the latest security know-how, and job vacancies are left unfilled. 

Like medical frontliners in overwhelmed hospitals, current IT teams are now overstretched in the current work-from-home setup due to COVID-19 quarantines. 

Time is of the essence. If one of your employees needs swift assistance for a complex issue while still in quarantine, a smart alternative would be to partner with managed service providers (MSPs) as soon as possible. 

Truly skilled IT professionals are a rarity, so make sure to only entrust your company’s computer networks to MSPs with well-trained experts prepared to keep your system free of catastrophic ransomware attacks.

Lack of Transparency and Communication

Tracking the activities of your members gets even more difficult while they’re working from home. 

While you may have no intention to micromanage them, you want to ensure that they’re not doing anything that can compromise your business. And if an employee makes a cybersecurity mistake, he or she must feel that it’s safe to come forward. 

You don’t want your employees to keep secrets, especially ones that can cost your business if not remedied immediately.

Reminding your employees about the do’s and don’ts to avoid security problems certainly helps. But you should also assure them that they have a safe space when they make an honest mistake.

If an employee falls victim to a phishing email, you’d want him or her to report it immediately. So he or she should know that it’s okay to come forward.

Having the majority of your organization work remotely requires trust. And trust should be a two-way street. Your team members trust you to look out for their livelihood and safety, as you trust them to hold their end of the bargain and deliver. 

Not Working As a Team

Your employees should not be a part of your cybersecurity problems. They should be part of the solution.

While you make sure to keep your employees connected and engaged during these trying times, you should also make sure that they follow proper cyber etiquette to keep your company from vulnerabilities.

Nobody can say they are 100% prepared to tackle this crisis, but we can take steps to prevent another wave of problems. 

MG Hosting Services is a company dedicated to protecting the healthcare industry from the growing threats of cyber attacks and data theft. A practice’s first line of defense against cybercriminals, they are highly trained IT specialists and cloud engineers ready to serve the technical needs of healthcare professionals 24/7. With offsite data storage, military-grade data encryption, and full remote work support, they can prepare practices for anything that comes next. Learn more on their website, and find more posts like this one on their company blog.