Are You Overlooking Cybersecurity During The COVID-19 Pandemic?
Businesses are highly likely to compromise their security and become prime targets for cybercriminals as they work remotely. Do you know how to maintain cybersecurity while your staff works from home?
Have you considered the state of your cybersecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic? Unfortunately, when businesses start prioritizing remote access to data over the security of that data, they make an easy target for hackers.
At the office, everything is protected by the same set of cybersecurity solutions – firewalls, antivirus software, etc. These are defenses that you’ve invested in and can trust.
But that’s likely not the case for your employees’ home networks and personal devices, is it?
Cybercriminals are expected to take advantage of the confusion and lack of awareness that comes with changing the way a majority of the professional world gets their work done. Do you know how to keep your employees and your business as a whole, secure?
How To Manage Your Business’ Remote Cybersecurity During The COVID-19 Pandemic
- Confirm All Payments Directly: Don’t let the fact that you can’t meet in person to verify significant financial transactions stop you from doing your due diligence. Make sure to confirm over the phone with the contact. Never execute a wire transfer based on an email request alone – it could very well be a cybercriminal posing as a business contact or third party organization.
- Train Your Employees: Now more than ever, your employees need to know how to spot social engineering scams that are all about the element of surprise. Case in point: phishing, a method in which cybercriminals send fraudulent emails that appear to be from reputable sources to get recipients to reveal sensitive information and execute significant financial transfers.
- Manage Updates & Patches: Much of the software you rely on to get work done every day could have flaws that leave you vulnerable to security breaches. That’s why developers regularly release software patches and updates to fix those flaws and protect users. This is why you must keep your applications and systems up to date.
- Deploy A VPN With MFA: When you use a virtual private network (VPN), your data is encrypted, or hidden, as it moves from your device to the VPN and then continues onto the Internet. That makes it harder for an attacker to identify you as the source of the data – no matter whether you’re on your mobile device’s data connection or using an unsecured retail Wi-Fi network while you’re in line for coffee. Multi-factor authentication is a great way to add an extra layer of protection to the existing system and account logins. By requiring a second piece of information like a randomly-generated numerical code sent by text message, you’re able to make sure that the person using the login credentials is actually who they say they are.
- Keep Home Systems Up To Date: Developers regularly release software patches and updates to fix flaws identified in their software. This is why you must keep your applications and systems up to date.
Don’t compromise your cybersecurity just so your staff can work from home. With the right awareness and solutions, you can maintain a productive and secure remote work model.
