Revel in remote working part three: 10 cybersecurity tips for remote workers

Welcome to the third and final instalment of our Revel Remotely blog series. So far we've covered tech turbulences and just how crucial communication is to your business' success. To round things up, we've prepared you a quickfire checklist to keep your team cyber secure and cyber-savvy: 

1. Follow your Company’s program protocols as you would in the office. 

Make clear the chain of command when it comes to IT-based decisions. 
Be aware of ‘Shadow IT’: only those who are IT personnel should be calling the shots when it comes to fixing glitches and securing your systems at a distance. This includes only using company approved software so that any data you may be collating can be adequately protected.  

2. Pick strong passwords. 

The National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) encourages remote workers to #thinkrandom when it comes to choosing your passwords; as much as three random words together. 

3. Not everyone needs access to everything. 

In fact, granting access to everyone is counterintuitive. Technology Evaluation Centre, IDC, found that employees lose 2.5 of their day searching for the correct information. Dedicate time to deducing who needs permissions for what. The IT guru’s are the only ones who need access to every device and program from a maintenance stand-point. 

4. Understand what belongs on a public and what belongs on a private cloud.

We'll say this again: shoving everything on the shared cloud really is not the most efficient or appropriate answer for your teams WFH. 

You can break up your information on a private and public cloud. The key differences between the two is that on private cloud is not shared with any outside organization. Only you have access to it. 

Whereas a public cloud server is shared by several different companies at the same. It can store data from two different companies simultaneously.  

Internet security and optimizing experts Cloudflare acknowledge that:

 ‘[Public clouds] might be a concern for businesses that need to meet strict regulatory compliance standards. Multitenancy also comes with a very small risk of data leakage, which may be more risk than some businesses in specialized fields are willing to tolerate.’ 

They go on to explain that replicating the same security policies for a company’s internal and external resources can be difficult if the public cloud is beyond a company’s control. 

*Side note* If working from a personal device, keep your data separate to avoid making this data minefield any hairier than it needs to be. 

5. Make a hybrid cloud.

Combining legacy systems with new systems will ensure your team can access what they need whilst working remotely. This is a good workaround to avoid the befuddling potential issues discussed in #4. 

6. Train your team to combat cybersecurity breaches. Regularly. 

Develop a short training programme for your teams new to remote working. There are a myriad of cybersecurity considerations to action and the securest companies will be those that transparently communicate and train their team to combat them. 

7. Be vigilant when it comes to opening erroneous emails and dodgy attachments.

The NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) provides insightful guidance on spotting suspicious emails. They include typical scam tropes to look out for such as using tones of authority, urgency, emotion, scarcity, and dine out on the relevancy of current events. 

8. Secure new devices.

Wherever you’re calling the office, any device poses an opportunity for a cyber attack. Instilling company protocols for your remote workers and resetting ancient passwords is reccommended. 

9. Plan for attacks.

As a part of continuously training your staff to be vigilant, there should be a plan-of-action in place should a cyber attack occur. Is there a clear line of communication for whom they should inform, what action they should take, and what happens in the aftermath? 

10. Keep software updated, especially your VPNs. 

VPN stands for ‘Virtual Private Network’ and describes your protected network connection when using public networks. Start by checking how many VPN tunnels your license allows and amend them accordingly. If you’ve had trouble accessing files this year, it’s likely that you require more VPN tunnels than you did before COVID-19, for instance. 

The serviced office industry is answering the call when it comes to stepping up the technology game in the workplace.

Our White Paper revealed that 20% of respondents said they would want better technology to facilitate productivity at work and serviced offices providers present a solution; offering design-led, technologically secure and ready-to-go workspaces to facilitate your IT needs where the armchair-turn-home-office cannot. 

To find a working zone where you can do what you do best knowing that the IT-side of things is taking care of, we can help. Fill in this form so we can discuss your needs and walk you through the process. 

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