With Remote Operations, Security is (Even More) Important

Since the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic, it has been clear that many companies were not prepared to continue their operations remotely. This was largely due to their leadership being convinced in recent years that allowing people to work remotely would lead to a considerable reduction in production, leading them to be unprepared to shift to remote functionality. Cybercriminals have taken advantage of many organizations as a result, so today we’ll discuss what needs to be done to secure endpoints from afar.

Many of the tools and strategies needed to keep your company's data infrastructure secure may be new to you and your business, but in most cases, they are measures that any organization that wants to protect its IT should take. Let's take a look at some of the strategies used to secure remote endpoints.

Virtual Private Networking

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a tool you may have heard of, that establishes an encrypted connection between your business’ network and a remote endpoint. This allows people to send and receive information securely by passing it on via an intermediary network. The configuration of the VPN is where people start to get confused.

IT administrators must therefore decide which security priorities to set for their network and which to disable. With more data coming in—and encrypted, for that matter—more bandwidth will be required, and the amount required for the entire team is going to be costly. On the other hand, there are clear security concerns without the VPN in place, making this a delicate balance.

Phish Fighting

Phishing is one of the largest cybersecurity issues for either in-house or remote employees, but arguably is a bigger risk for an employee working from home. After all, they likely aren’t under the same protections that should be set up in the office. Today’s Endpoint Protection and Response (EDR) tools can help to mitigate some of this risk, but the onus will still be on the user with their fingers on the keyboard.

Therefore, training your employees to recognize an attempted phishing attack is the most effective way to really deter them. Establishing and repeatedly reinforcing the best practices and warning signs, and what to do if they do encounter one, is the best strategy to protect your business from phishing.

Threat Intelligence

Of course, you shouldn’t rely exclusively on your end users to protect your business. Your IT department should also have installed a comprehensive threat intelligence system, which helps to keep you protected from new threats as they develop. At the very least, your IT resource will be kept up to speed on the threats posing risks to your technology.

Incident Response

Finally, you have to account for the fact that one of your users will likely slip up and get “hooked,” so to speak, by a phishing attack. Accidents happen, nobody’s perfect. In these cases, the EDR can help you determine how badly you’ve been breached, quarantining the impacted areas and resolving the threat. There are even options to help automate your anti-hacker efforts.

Putting it plainly, any business that uses technology—really, any business currently in operation—needs to worry about its cybersecurity. To learn more about the protections and precautions you should take, give our IT experts a call at (217) 428-6449.