With the global COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, many organisations around the world have had to maintain the work-from-home model they transitioned to in the first quarter of 2020.
That being said, a majority of companies don’t possess the experience necessary to manage a completely remote workforce and the unique challenges it presents.
IT teams are struggling to contend with the increasing number of unsecured and unmanaged personal devices that open the organisation up to data breaches, data theft, and potential compliance violations.
To make matters worse, a Deloitte Cyber Intelligence Centre report revealed that there’s been a spike in ransomware attacks, Malspams, and phishing attacks during the pandemic.
Attackers use misleading COVID-19 information to impersonate brands, thereby fooling employees and customers.
Here’s a useful remote workforce cybersecurity guide for employers.
Securing Your Remote Workforce
A majority of organisations tend to use fragmented IT infrastructures that consist of both on-premises equipment as well as both public and private clouds. In order to secure these IT environments, employers need to consider the following steps.
1. Take a Proactive Approach
Cyberattacks almost always result in a loss of data or resources. Organisations that fall prey to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)attacks, for instance, also report the theft of customer data, financial assets, resources, and intellectual property.
DDoS attacks are generally used by attackers as diversions to draw user attention away from a hacking attempt or a malware exploit.
In order to be prepared for such attacks, employers must be proactive about mitigating the risks posed by DDoS threats and integrate robust cybersecurity strategies that provide the necessary defence should an attack occur.
1. Deploy a Cloud Shield
It’s critical that your cybersecurity strategies include the use of an external cloud service that routes all incoming traffic to your company’s website and all other application resources.
A good external cloud system must be able to use machine-learning and artificially-intelligence (AI) strategies and algorithms to identify and proactively filter malicious traffic before it gets a chance to impair critical operations and services.
Furthermore, you also need to train and prepare your company’s IT staff to prioritise targeted and stealthy attacks over other diversionary tactics.
A business also needs to ensure their IT staff can produce information on how an attack occurred in the unfortunate event that systems are compromised, along with a continuity plan on how quickly the business could recover after an attack.
2. Make APIs a Priority
Many cyber-attacks include going after the APIs that are used in your web applications in order to steal data.
APIs generally have the bare minimum protection and monitoring required, so they tend to be the IT environment’s weak links.
If your APIs are compromised, it’s only a matter of time until your business operations are also compromised.
Take your time evaluating your APIs thoroughly and the web applications that use them in order to leverage solutions that block incoming threats before they reach the application.
VIXTRO is an industry-leading IT and cybersecurity company based in Melbourne with tried-and-tested cybersecurity solutions, which can be tailored to your organisation’s needs for a cybersecurity business consultation free-of-charge to get a better understanding of what we can do for your company.
