Published on July 23, 2020
Mid-sized to large companies have I.T. experts on board that have helped transition work to home and remote offices. Smaller businesses like mine don’t have a dedicated expert to help with a secure transformation to remote offices for our staff.
I am lucky to have some of Sacramento’s best cybersecurity experts in my network! I asked a few local experts who work for companies in complex industries such as retail and healthcare what the greatest risks are in today’s “work from home” business environment.
Here are a few bullets that they shared:
Be aware of Phishing/Spear-Phishing (fraudulent practice of sending emails ostensibly from a known or trusted sender in order to induce targeted individuals to reveal confidential information) it is on the rise; remote employees seem to be targeted in greater numbers than before.
Stay vigilant with the threat of local networks that employees are connecting “to and through”, and watch out for hackers that reach back out to the computer resources utilized by the organization. Companies should encourage best practices around multi-factor authentication and VPN utilization.
Classifying data and practicing “least privilege”.
From the business side, companies are starting to explore cloud-hosted virtual desktops. It is critical to understand how your distributed remote workforce may alter your long-term expenditure planning with this new way of working as it pertains to facilities, training and recruiting. Build interview questions and screening questions that will reveal whether a candidate can function optimally from a home office and think strategically whether working remote is a long-term solution. You may not need that office lease.
Small companies are best served by calling on a technology integrator to help make key decisions that will enable secure and efficient productivity.
Stay safe and well! Contact me at [email protected]
