Small Businesses With Remote Teams Are Ripe for Cyber Attacks And Data Breach

If your company is a startup or a company small in size working with low budgets, it may make even more sense to hire remote workers. A remote work policy may reduce huge costs involved with hiring office space, arranging for required equipment/facilities such as a good cafeteria etc. Plus being able to access a wide variety of talent from across the world is clearly a bonus. This rosy picture may just crumble in seconds however, if you do not adhere to cybersecurity measures that keep your data safe. You risk losing a lot of important information about your company and in the worst of cases perhaps even go bankrupt! Scary as that may sound, every problem has a solution.

Small and medium enterprises are more likely to be victims of cyber attack. Here is why.

As a small company, you may be under the mistaken notion that your chances of being susceptible to a cyber attack is less or worse, you may be unaware about. potential cyber attacks and as a result, your employees too might end up unintentionally leaking data to unknown parties. It is also possible that you are aware, but cannot employ round the clock IT staff on account of budget constraints.

Whatever your reason maybe, you need cybersecurity measures to keep you safe and ensure your survival. Numbers pointing towards losses on account of cybercrime. are startling. In 2019, losses to the tune of $2 trillion were attributed to cybercrime according to findings of Juniper Research. These losses do not just include the ransom payments to hackers but also include the fines, repairs, security updates, loss of reputation with customers etc.

To be safe in the cyberspace, technological solutions are currently available that are either free or with a fee. The paid option comes with a few more useful features. If your budget does not permit it, using the free options is far better thing to do than keeping your digital systems completely open and ripe for potential cyber attacks.

In 2019, losses to the tune of $2 trillion were attributed to cybercrime.

Know your potential areas of cybersecurity risk

A cyber attack is a digital assault on a computer or network. If your employees either work from from home, being in the same city or even in a different city in the world, would mean that you rely on the digital world and hence need to take appropriate security measures. Hackers are interested in sensitive information and in most cases steal important information for money. A cyber attack can be either passive or active. A passive attack is a hacking attempt where the hardware is monitored and tracked. But there are no alterations to data and hence the chances of it going unnoticed are perhaps higher. An active attack on the other hand would entail alterations to data. a classic example of this kind of attack is the download of malware upon clicking a link.

• The BYOD Trend: Remote workers will fall under the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) umbrella. Obviously it makes sense to let remote employees use their own devices instead of the company investing in new ones. While this policy benefits the employee as many have comfort levels when it comes to using their own preferred devices and the company is better off in terms of no investment in devices for remote employees, risks of less secure internet connections, unrestricted downloads of software/apps by employees for various purposes etc, opens up the field to a variety of potential cyber threats, some of which may just go unnoticed until it is too late. Investing in concrete cyber security measures thereby becomes super important. Although a company may not be able to have an in-house cyber security team, it is imperative that a small company has someone to trust when it comes to handling cyber security measures.
• Excellent talent may be digital nomads: Considering that more and more employees are turning into digital nomads, the risk of being in unsecured internet connection becomes greater.
• Work habits: Remote employees. may have the habit. leaving their work devices unattended in cafes, co-working spaces etc.
• Lack of awareness about potential ways of cyber attacks or hacking: Employees need to be made aware of scams such as Phishing. These generally involve repeated emails with specific links that need to be clicked and over time information is collected little by little from the receiver. Employees may intentionally or unintentionally leak data by clicking on malicious links.

How to prevent cyber attacks and data breach?

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• Using the cloud: Experts recommend moving work applications to the cloud enabling security and access to employees respective of where they are located. This approach ensures that sensitive data is kept safe in the company’s servers.
• Software tools to provide encryption: Access control software enables you to regulate access of various data. Encryption software ensure safety of data even after usual security measures fail. Top ranking encryption software list prepared by Tech Radar available here.
• Educate remote employees about potential risks in the cyberspace: Formulating policies to educate employees choosing the BYOD option, about the importance of availing security measures. Remote employees need to be sensitised about dangers involved in leaving their work devices unattended in cafes, co-working spaces etc.
• Using VPN: The general recommendation given by experts is to use Virtual Private Network(VPN) which is essentially a private network which can be made specific to a company with restricted access. This protection layer becomes stronger with two step verification as well as level based access and so on. VPNs are available for free as well as for a fee. The paid options provide benefits such as better internet speed, no geographical restrictions and ad free services. Useful tips on choosing the right VPN provider available here
• Using strong passwords: Employees must be instructed to repeatedly revise passwords, especially login passwords and ensure that their passwords are extremely difficult to crack.
• Making systems seamless: Employees tend to use alternate IT systems often termed as shadow IT simply because the applications available in the company aren’t seamless enough. This practice opens up a whole new arena that may not be covered by the IT security measures adopted by the company. For instance, an employee might resort to using his own Dropbox account on account of ease of use. However that application being in his personal account may not be authorised by the company and therefore risks opening up sensitive information for hackers to attack.
• Access to cyber security expert: Even though employing full time IT staff may not be possible for budgetary reasons, having a cyber security expert who can be relied on is super important. Employees must be instructed. to immediately report anything suspicious on their devices.
• Rescinding access to employees who have left the payroll is extremely crucial.
• Emphasise on regular software updates: There is always a tendency to postpone software updates. But these are important as software companies are constantly on the look out for potential security threats and developing fixes that are provided to users via software updates.
• Access control: Provide access to data as and when remote employees need it and later turn it off.

Previously published on MerryGoWork