Most businesses have shifted from the traditional office-based model. Today, more businesses are relying on hybrid working arrangements, and without good reason. Hybrid business models allow companies to recruit more potential job candidates irrespective of where they live while also lowering their total operating expenses.
Nevertheless, this flexibility also comes with new security challenges. While remote-working teams can help to support more business agility, digital working environments have more vulnerabilities due to limited visibility over users and increased reliance on remote network connections. Businesses should recognize these risks and put in place certain measures to guard their systems against a variety of new emerging threats.
Creating Zero Trust Security Architectures
When a workforce relies primarily on cloud-based systems, a fundamental shift in thinking is necessary. Establishing a “Zero Trust” security architecture is the best way to achieve this.
Zero trust isn’t purposely designed to be over restrictive – as some companies may think. Its primary goal is to facilitate business network activities while maintaining the most secure environment possible. Under a zero trust architecture, no user, regardless of their position, is trusted beyond his/her necessary access requirements. Every single interaction requires identity and access verification.
This model is especially useful in the event that employees leave the company or change roles. Their credentials do not automatically transfer, which is an important preventative measure for keeping better control over network activity.
Following this process minimizes the chances of someone connecting to company systems using stolen credentials and gaining access to private company data or networked applications.
Implementing MFA Protocols
A common problem businesses have when subscribing to new online services is the repetition of login credentials from employees. This means that if just one credential is illegally obtained, multiple online services could be affected.
To mitigate this risk, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an important feature that should be used on any platform where it’s accessible. MFS adds another level of protection that is extremely hard for attackers to get around. In most cases, it requires an additional authentication method that only a legitimate user will possess – a physical security key, authenticator application, or a fingerprint scan.
Another purpose of MFA is that it allows organizations to monitor users’ network activity to look for any patterns. For example, an access attempt coming from a strange location or several failed access attempts could be an early indicator of a security breach.
Hardening Endpoint Security
Securing digital assets can be a full-time activity for any organization. However, this process becomes even more critical for those enterprises that have recently shifted towards a distributed workforce model.
With core business operations extending outside the confines of a physical office, having plans in place to secure all devices that regularly connect to the network is a must. This includes computers and mobile devices – both company issued and employees’ personal devices.
Employee-issued devices are typically much easier to secure when setting up remote working arrangements. Companies can install their own security software and monitor where and how they’re used. Personal devices are a bit more nuanced when implementing security measures. Regardless, it’s important to have network monitoring solutions in place – regardless of how employees connect to company resources. This allows you to harden your endpoint security and reduce your risk profile.
Increasing Cybersecurity Awareness With Employees
Regardless of how advanced your security systems may be, if employees don’t have knowledge on how to avoid online threats, chances are that simple human error can and will create new vulnerabilities.
A large number of today’s cybercriminals often rely on a lack of awareness from employees. They’ll wait for them to click on unknown links or open dangerous file attachments, and then they can carry out a variety of illegal activities.
This is why businesses should be investing in comprehensive security awareness training for all employees. Cybersecurity awareness training should cover a range of critical topics, including how to identify phishing emails, what types of sites to avoid, and how to create stronger passwords.
Awareness of security risks should also extend to third-party vendors. It’s important to make sure business partners are taking seriously their role in helping to protect company assets and follow best security practices when running their own operations. Vendor risk assessments can be invaluable when confirming this fact. They help to ensure the business is only partnering with organizations who actively maintain strict security standards at all times.
Putting Together Incident Response Plans
Good security planning focuses on both preventing an attack and being ready for the possibility of a breach taking place. To do this, an organization should have an effective incident response plan.
An incident response plan is a list of documented procedures necessary for dealing with major operational disruptions, especially in the wake of a cyber attack. It should specify all the respondents’ roles and responsibilities so there is no ambiguity about who does what once recovery efforts are initiated. Equally important is defining communication lines that need to be established internally by the team and externally by any third-party partners involved.
Developing an incident response plan, however, is just one important step to take. Regularly reviewing and modifying plans over time is also critical. This ensures plans are always relevant as a business grows and represents current capabilities or needs.
Conducting Regular Security Audits
It’s important for all businesses to take an unbiased look at how well their security measures are actually working. Regular security assessments are an important way to achieve this. By conducting formal audits and testing system security using a variety of methods, businesses can gain invaluable perspective on what’s working and what should be improved.
Red team/blue team exercises are a good starting point when looking for weaknesses in current security structures. Red teams work as “attackers,” looking for various ways to penetrate system defenses, while blue teams work as “defenders,” trying to spot intrusions and respond to attacks. Another popular option is to bring in external security experts to conduct penetration tests.
Penetration testing services can provide helpful outside perspectives to organizational security by running real-world attack simulations against the organization. After these tests are completed, businesses will be given detailed results that show if and how the simulated attacks were successful and where they should prioritize their risk mitigation efforts.
Maximize The Security of Your Hybrid Workforce
Having a remote workforce can create a number of opportunities for businesses, but they also come with unique security challenges that need to be addressed.
By reinforcing certain security protocols and increasing employee cybersecurity awareness, businesses will keep their digital assets and critical data protected while maintaining the operating structure that’s best for them.
