Although remote work has been around for some time, many people still have questions about it. A typical one is how secure virtual collaboration and communication are. It is a valid concern, especially considering that there have been several high-profile data breaches in the recent past.
How secure a system is often depends on the security measures in place and the people who use the system. Humans are often the weakest security link because we sometimes overlook simple things that lead to severe consequences, including billions of Pounds lost in cybersecurity attacks.
Like any other company, remote companies must ensure their systems are secure to keep malicious actors away. While they may keep trying, many will move to softer or more vulnerable targets if you have the following practices in place.
Insist on Secure Passwords and Better Password Hygiene
A common point of failure in secure systems is a user’s password. This is not surprising because we log into numerous apps, websites and tools daily, so it is inevitable that someone will use a weak password or use the same one for multiple accounts.
Weak passwords are so common that studies found that about a quarter of all employees reuse the same password when logging into secure enterprise systems. Even more shocking is that they use passwords that follow patterns that have been proven to be easy to guess. Such passwords included their favourite food, birthdays, places that were important to them, names of their loved ones, and number or letter sequences.
Because of how difficult creating and remembering numerous secure passwords can be, businesses should insist that all their remote teams use password managers. Instead of managing many passwords that might be a few characters long each, they can manage one long enough that cracking it would not be viable for malicious actors.
Teach Employees About Common Data Breach Patterns
Phishing attacks remain a concern, even after years of companies educating people about them. They entail someone who seems genuine or trustworthy sending an email containing links or attachments that collect data when clicked on. In most cases, though, these links and attachments lead to websites that seem legitimate where someone enters their username and password.
Once they do, they are redirected to the legitimate website after the malicious actor has collected their data. If they are logged in, they will not know they have been redirected. If they are not, they will be asked to log in again and will think their first attempt failed.
These types of attacks continue because they are somewhat sophisticated, and people forget about distrusting all emails, including legitimate ones.
Team leaders should inform their colleagues not to click links or attachments until they have confirmed that the email has come from a legitimate party. A simple text or message asking the person the email supposedly came from if they sent it can save an employee and business a lot of headaches.
Ensure Employees Do Not Share Meeting or Server Links
Employees should never share meeting or server links over emails or other insecure mediums. The only exception is if those messages are encrypted and only they and the recipient have the keys. You do not want to see uninvited persons attending a meeting, disrupting it or poking around your systems.
Share Secure Files
If you have to, let team members know that you will only share files through the collaboration server or will only share secure files. With the first option, they can only access the files if they have the right authorisation to do so, which provides an extra layer of security.
Although not foolproof, secure and password-protected PDFs can work well for the second option. In addition to setting a password, employees can sign it using a certificate so only one party can access it. These files are not as difficult to work with as you might think because you only need to enter the password or open it on an authorised system, and it will open.
Employees can then work with the file or convert the PDF to Word using different secure tools that do not save the files online. The PDF to DOCX tool from Small PDF is a great option because it can convert PDFs of various sizes, even scanned ones.
Keep an Eye on File Uploads and Downloads
It is common for a system administrator to see data streaming in and out of a server during office hours or when it is in use by remote teams. However, you should be wary if you see large uploads and downloads when no one is supposed to be uploading or downloading files. It could be a sign of a data breach.
Remember that many businesses do not know their systems have been compromised until the malicious actor tells them. They could have been in the system for months before being discovered, and there is no way of knowing how much or what type of data they have syphoned unless they make it known.
In some cases, you might not see large downloads or uploads, but instead a steady stream of data over a long time. Malicious actors know IT professionals are looking for these types of connections, so they throttle their uploads and downloads so they are undetectable by software but remain active.
If the business has to, it should cut a connection to the device making the requests and scan the whole system for vulnerabilities. If one of their remote workers complains of a severed connection, it was legitimate. If not, you might have just discovered a breach that would have otherwise caused more damage than it already has.
Enforce the Use of VPNs
Although man-in-the-middle attacks are not as common as they used to be, they have evolved into side-jacking attacks. Here, a malicious actor accesses a user’s web session to act as them. Once they have access, they remove the other user’s access and have complete control of their system.
A VPN can be incredibly helpful in thwarting such attacks. The reason is that they establish a direct connection to one server and jot other devices. While it might be possible for an attacker to intercept their data, it will be encrypted so there is not much they can do about that.
Hire an IT Management Business
Sometimes your IT department is handling so much that it cannot keep an eye on all systems. In such cases, consider hiring a company whose model is providing such services to businesses. They will secure all your connections (including setting up a VPN) and monitor them for malicious activity. Being proactive means they can catch issues much earlier, thereby stopping attacks before they happen.
They can also set up permissions, authorisations, and authentication for server access properly to protect servers and networks from attacks. Lastly, they patch and update their servers and your network infrastructure to protect from known vulnerabilities.
Data and cyber security have become crucial in a digital world where data has become very valuable and attack footprints have become bigger due to remote work. Businesses should take serious measures to seal all potential points of egress, put the necessary protections in place, and work with IT management companies for robust security.
