In the last year we have seen a transition from working in office, to working at home, or a hybrid model of both. In fact, according to a pew research study on employees returning to work after the pandemic, 64% stated they would feel uncomfortable going back to a physical office space.
In some capacity, it is likely that remote work is here to stay, even after the pandemic is largely considered over. With so many people bringing their workplace home, it is more important than ever to ensure their cybersecurity while working from home.
Implementing the Right Strategy for your Security
In a recent Microsoft Cybersecurity survey, data shows that 81% of enterprise organizations have begun the move toward a hybrid workplace, and 31% of the those are already being fully adopted into this model. As this trend continues, cyber criminals have been quick to exploit new vulnerabilities presented in working from home.
Microsoft cybersecurity recommends basic security hygiene practices take place in the workplace, such as running updates regularly, turning on multifactor authentication, and securing data with strong passwords. If these measures are not put into practice, remote employees jeopardize their data, reputation, and privacy.
Hybrid work requires applying a basic security technique: zero-trust strategy; this follows a never trust – always verify security approach. Security implementations like business class firewalls or Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that are available within your office are not as readily available from home. The same security measures that take advantage of firewalls and VPNs doesn’t work for those that operate beyond traditional network boundaries.
With a zero-trust based security measure in place, there are various approaches in ensuring security of company data and privacy. Most organizations take an end-to-end approach to implementing these security practices. The important factors to consider when executing your cybersecurity measures are identity, endpoints, applications, network, infrastructure, data, and automation.
Identity represents people, services, or Internet of Things (IoT) devices. As a company implements a hybrid workforce, it’s important to enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA); strong authentication security can prevent 99% of potential account break-ins and identity attacks.
Endpoints are represented through workstations, servers, and other devices within the network that can become potential targets for cyber intrusion. These devices can make a wide attack surface, which is why implementing a zero-trust security method is necessary in these scenarios. A managed services provider such as Natural Networks can administrate the many endpoints in your network and implement strong security measures to protect them. This includes removing local administrator access from user workstations, keeping workstations up to date, and enforcing anti-virus programs to make sure that internal data and applications are not exposed to known vulnerabilities.
Applications and services require authentication prior to gaining access. Applications that rely solely on in-house corporate network connectivity to restrict access violate the zero-trust principle of security. To modernize application security, implementing Software as a Service (SaaS) based applications whenever possible is ideal.
Network security is pivotal to implementing a secure trustless environment. Microsoft’s cybersecurity team found that attackers most used malware, phishing, web applications, and mobile malware in their attempts at network intrusion during the month of July 2021. The most often used protocols in these attacks were HTTP, TCP, and DNS based since these are open to the internet. A zero-trust approach assumes your network is always under attack, and this segmented network layout can mitigate such attack vectors.
Infrastructure such as on-premises servers, virtual machines, containers, and micro-services represent a critical target for cyber intruders. Moving these systems to a cloud-based environment enables a better security posture and helps protect devices from such threats. Storing data in the cloud enables your hybrid workforce to continue to have access to devices and data while keeping them secure.
Data is one of the most essential security points in a zero-trust environment. It’s especially important that data remains protected even if it leaves devices, apps, infrastructure, and networks in your organization. Utilizing permissions-based access through multi-factor authenticated users ensures that data is seen by only those allowed to see it. Protecting data through encryption, tokenization, or masking can help ensure that it’s unreadable to criminals who obtained it in the event of data theft.
By following the steps above, your office employees can maintain a secure, zero-trust system that can help prevent data loss and mitigate cyber-attacks. Natural Networks is a fully managed IT services company, and we help implement cyber-security measures for fully hybrid, semi-hybrid, and completely in-house organizations of all sizes. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help keep your organizations network and data secure, give us a call today!
