The hybrid workplace is here to stay. The impact of 2020 has changed our workplace attitudes and behaviours for the long term. Initially driven by need, the hybrid workplace model of combining remote working and office time has been fast tracked, becoming the norm for many workers.
“Our best estimate is that 25-30% of the workforce will be working-from-home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.”
Kate Lister, President of Global Workplace
Whilst remote working comes with many benefits such as; improved employee satisfaction, increased productivity, lowered business costs, deduction in the carbon footprint and a healthier work life balance, it also presents several unique cybersecurity challenges.
With the threat landscape continuing to evolve and cyber-attacks becoming even more sophisticated, lets look at those threats in more detail.
The biggest 3 Security Threats of 2021 within the Hybrid Workplace
The hybrid workplace has significantly advanced the digital transformation within organisations, the future workplace requires more thought and planning to support the long-term evolution.
As part of the digital transformation, data security plays a significant role. Cyber crime continues to rise, cyber-criminal has seized the opportunity amid the pandemic, launching a spate of attacks that exploited people’s fears and uncertainty. Therefore, it’s more important than ever to ensure your organisation is capable of fending off these attacks and preventing data breaches.
1 Phishing Attacks
Phishing is a cyberattack that uses a disguised email as a weapon. The aim is to trick the recipient into giving valuable information, often a request from their bank or an email from someone in their company – requesting they click a link or download an attachment.
A recent report* found revealed that there has been a 600% increase reported in phishing emails since the end of February 2020, with many cyber criminals cashing in on the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.
*Barracuda Networks
2 Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts a victim’s files. The attacker then demands a ransom from the victim to restore access to the data upon payment.
Ransomware attacks have increased in the UK since the start of Covid. Working from home creates cyber security gaps which attackers exploit to launch a ransomware attack.
Cyber insurance provider Coalition reports that ransomware accounted for 41% of all cyber insurance claims in the first half of 2020.
3 Credential Theft
Credential theft is a type of cybercrime that involves stealing a victim’s proof of identity, a password. With a stolen credential a hacker can travel through a system to install malware (think ransomware) and steal information for a competitor, leak confidential client information, access a company’s financial information, password reset numerous accounts and send false invoices to clients.
“Insecure password practices are exploited in 81% of cyber-attacks worldwide, and 61% of all attacks target businesses with less than 1000 employee’s”
How can Organisation’s Secure their Hybrid Workforce
Strong Multi Factor Authentication
MFA is the only way to protect yourself from credential theft. MFA allows an extra level of security when accessing company information, ensuring the person logging in is authorised to do so.
Smart IT’s MFA Solution not only protects against credential theft, it can also protect against phishing attacks by protecting logins.
UTM (Ultimate Threat Management) Firewalls
Smart IT’s firewalls create a secure route into your network from the outside world, checking all data going inbound and outbound to make sure its secure and safe. Our Firewall solution has the ability to perform web filtering, intrusion prevention, secure VPN, application control and much more. It checks several times a day with central cloud servers to keep your firewall up to date for the latest breaches/hacks along with country filtering allowing you to block common countries such as Russia, China and Iraq.
Hosted Email Security
Smart IT’s Cloud Email Security Solution’s have been specifically designed to provide maximum email security, giving peace of mind against credential theft, phishing and ransomware emails. Offering increased security on inbound and sensitive outbound emails with encryption to give an additional layer of security on financial or confidential data.
Smart IT’s Email Security quarantines emails which appear to be spam, contain potential viruses or are detected as a phishing email. It provides a sandbox environment which allows customers to view potential malicious emails safely to confirm if they are a threat.
Find out how Smart IT can help with your Hybrid Workforce in Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Durham, and Darlington get in touch today.
