With more employees now enjoying the benefits of hybrid working, as their time is split between the office and home, making sure your workers stay protected wherever they are has never been more important.
It may seem difficult trying to keep tabs on a workforce scattered across so many different destinations, but there are a number of easy steps your business can take to make sure everyone stays safe.
Recent Research (Opens in a new tab) By TechRadar Pro and Perimeter 81 found that many companies don’t have the security protections needed to keep remote workers safe. Only half (50%) have a cloud-based cybersecurity solution, with an additional 15% saying they are currently exploring their options.
This is despite a report from Statista claiming more than Two-thirds of business leaders (Opens in a new tab) They now plan to reconfigure their office space to permanently accommodate mixed-use work, and 73% of employees say they want flexible remote work options to stay as a condition of their employment.
Encouraging security best practices doesn’t have to be a long or painful process, as new hires should know the importance of online security tools like antivirus, VPN, and strong passwords.
But working outside the office can encourage some bad habits, especially when it comes to security and IT policies. Workers who struggle to connect to a VPN, or are frustrated with their poor connection in a coffee shop or even at home, may be tempted to engage in risky solutions that may put them at risk.
Whether it’s using a PC, tablet, or smartphone to access confidential emails or company documents, or plugging rogue USB drives into your work laptop, there are all kinds of potential threats lurking outside the office.
Making sure the devices your employees use are properly protected at the hardware level can also go a long way to making sure your business remains secure. Laptops and computers running the latest hardware are packed with robust security measures that can protect your data and device, without slowing down your device.
This is essential when looking for new hardware to ensure your PC is protected in the same hardware, providing under-the-OS security to protect your system, along with robust data protection and advanced threat detection capabilities.
The most secure devices also have specially optimized monitoring technology to allow any unauthorized access or action to be detected and closed. Your IT administrators will be able to put in place consistent and comprehensive policies that will hopefully stop any unwanted or dangerous activity, but also be flexible for those workers or tasks that require it. As online collaboration becomes more common than ever, allowing those teams that require constant communication and interaction is vital, and keeping this secure is vital.
Getting a level of insight into your employee’s browsing activity and accessing key work files can be critical when looking to stay safe in a mixed working age, and if workers leave the company without returning their toolkit to an office, it can be a lifesaver for the company.
Ultimately, the goal is for your employees to be as productive and effective outside the office as they are inside it. Having the right IT security policies in place can be a boon to workers everywhere, removing the frustrations seen in the age of office-centeredness, so make sure your company is able to deliver exactly what is needed, while also staying safe and protected.