Two years ago, COVID-19 forced millions of us into our most extensive stay-at-home experience. With that came a revolutionary shift in business practices to remote workforces. We relocated our office to our spare guest bedroom and our conference room to our dining room table. Our remote working environment became the norm.
However, in the past year, our organizations emerged from these restrictions and transitioned to yet another model, hybrid workforces.
An evolving set of challenges have been presented with some employees working part time in the office and other days at home, while other team members work entirely from their homes. Cisco addressed these opportunities in its 4-part video series on “how COVID-19 has transformed how we work.”
In one of the videos, Kerry Singleton, Cisco Managing Director, Cybersecurity Sales, APJC, discussed the top four vulnerabilities in a hybrid environment:
- Wi-Fi- Threat actors will try to hijack or get into an unsuspecting user’s network.
- VPNs (Virtual Private Networks)- Cyber criminals will exploit vulnerabilities within unpatched VPNs.
- Cloud– Bad actors will compromise usernames and passwords on cloud networks.
- BYOD (Bring-your-own-device)– State-sponsored actors prey on your home and mobile devices used for corporate use.
The Forbes Technology Council provided two pointers on how to protect your hybrid workforce from the next cyberattack:
No environment can be secured 100%, and your employees are always the most vulnerable entry point for any cyberattack. If your staff isn’t properly trained, it doesn’t matter how foolproof your software or network is. Recurring security awareness training and phish testing is a must in keeping the bad guys out.
Use a robust endpoint management solution.
Your company endpoint devices are the most vital part of your technology environment. These devices are crucial in storing and processing data within your hybrid work environment.
The right endpoint management solution, such as Mentis Group RMM solution, helps to secure your hybrid workspace by the following:
- Equips IT administrators with a centralized view of all endpoints
- Helps them reduce oversights
- Increases efficiency with remote policy updates, patching, and other security measures
Mentis believes all IT environments should have the following, at a minimum, in place to keep your hybrid workforce secure:
- Educate your workforce to embrace secure work practices (Security Awareness Training)
- Verify the person is who they say they are (MFA on all points of entry)
- Enable secure access from anywhere (VPN or secure gateways with MFA)
- Defend against security threats at any entry point (EDR endpoint security, Zero Trust, etc)
- Limit access to company resources for BYOD devices (Issue all staff with corporate devices)
We know that providing a safe and secure hybrid workspace is essential to the success of your business. Our goal is to provide a safe and seamless transition back into your office, hybrid, or fully remote. We’d love to discuss how our team may help you with all your hybrid workspace cybersecurity needs. So, if you’re ready to begin, click here .