According to security professionals, more than half of US businesses had no contingency plans in place for a situation such as the coronavirus pandemic, this time last year.
With that being said, it didn't seem like a lot of governments did, either.
Regardless, coronavirus has left an indelible mark on the world of work, with more than two-thirds of businesses saying that the pandemic has “completely” changed the way they function now and will function in the long term.
Business Security at Home
According to a study released by Bitdefender, 81% of professionals working in information security (or infosec, if you're keen on portmanteaus) believe that coronavirus will change the way their business operates in the long-term.
In fact, for those working in the hospitality and energy industries, that figure jumps to 87% and 92%, respectively.
One of the big changes for business was, naturally, employees working from home. However, this change, which seems simple, presented massive problems for security teams.
Phishing and whaling are reported to have become far more commonplace during the pandemic, with more than a quarter of professionals reporting an increase.
While most employees regularly receive anti-phishing training, one-third of security professionals stated that being at home in safe, secure surroundings made employees more relaxed and less likely to report suspicious activity online.
Of course, the potential problems with remote working aren't simply related to employee carelessness. Two-in-five of infosec professionals believed that employees untrusted networks presented big problems while more than a third said that employees switching randomly between business and personal devices could have left data vulnerable.
How to Secure your Remote Employees
Fortunately, there are a range of ways to help keep your employees secure away from the office.
We'd highly recommend getting a VPN solution for your workers. It'll keep all the traffic they send and receive on the internet encrypted and secured from prying eyes on the internet.
What's more, almost a quarter of businesses agree with us as and have either started supplying a VPN solution to employees or making their current solution more effective.
We've got an entire guide devoted to the best VPNs for businesses where you can read up on everything to do with implementing a VPN, as well as comparing the top providers.
Alternatively, you can get started with Perimeter 81 now — it's our top pick for business VPNs.
You can also provide employees with remote access software. This can help connect your employees to their computers in your office. It'll certainly help reduce the potential issues with employees using their personal devices for work.
Again, we've got a guide on the best remote access software on the market which will help explain everything you need to know about getting started with remote working. You can also get started straight away with TeamViewer, our favorite remote access tool.
