How to manage cybersecurity for your in-house remote workers

How do you manage cybersecurity for remote workers?

You manage cybersecurity for remote workers by focusing on prevention: train staff, back up data, vet partners, and secure every connection before a threat ever reaches your network.

• Train people often, since human error causes most breaches.
• Back up data and vet every partner’s security.
• Secure connections with strong tools, not just a basic VPN.

Many companies now run on remote work. Perhaps you have worked with outsourced teams for years, yet kept many roles in-house. Either way, the security picture changes once people leave the office.

Managing cybersecurity for your remote workers is not the same as keeping them safe on-site. So every organization should know the security risks of remote work. This matters most when the shift happens fast.

Remote work can greatly widen an organization’s attack surface. As a result, it can lead to non-compliance and security incidents, often by accident. Some teams have strong network security at the office. However, others may not see the risks of remote connectivity.

Without the right measures, remote work can put any business at risk. For example, security teams have noticed an increase in traffic to malicious websites as more employees work remotely. In fact, file-based malware and attacks have climbed as remote work has grown.

At the same time, attackers launch email spam campaigns and register thousands of new malicious domains tied to current events. So what matters most is clear. You need to keep your organization cyber resilient, even when staff work outside your perimeter.

How to secure your remote workers

The key to securing your workforce is to focus on prevention, not mitigation. Below, I have listed good preventative measures. Follow them to protect business continuity while your employees work remotely. For teams that lack in-house expertise, outsourced cybersecurity services can fill the gap fast.

Conducting cybersecurity awareness training sessions

In cybersecurity, employees are often seen as the weakest link. After all, human error is the root cause of many data breaches. So you should help your staff gain at least basic cybersecurity knowledge. In turn, that keeps your business safer.

Did you train your workers on cyber protection before they started working from home? If not, it is not too late. For example, you can run virtual training on how to react to cyber threats. So teach them to stay alert and spot digital risks. Even trained staff benefit from a quick refresher.

Take social engineering attacks, for example. These are common among cybercriminals and take many shapes online.

One of the most common types is email phishing. Attackers often latch onto major events. For example, when global health agencies declared the coronavirus an international emergency, phishing campaigns quickly began to emerge.

In these scams, attackers disguise messages as notices from official health agencies and government divisions. For instance, these phishing emails can contain malicious links. These point users to credential-stealing pages or malware-infected attachments that pose as real documents.

To stay safe from phishing and other attacks, your staff should learn some best practices, such as:

• Paying attention to the email sender.
• Being vigilant of messages that use a sense of urgency and ask them to transfer money or disclose internal confidential details.
• Not clicking on suspicious links.
• Checking the email with a DMARC analyzer.

At the same time, your users should never reuse passwords. To avoid remembering complex ones, they should rely on password managers instead.

Here is why that matters. If they reuse passwords on third-party services and those credentials leak, attackers try them on corporate accounts. This practice is called credential stuffing. So reuse is a real risk.

In addition, two-factor authentication boosts account security. So enable and use it wherever you can.

What’s more, your staff need a clear plan if they think they have been attacked. For example, if company data may be exposed, they must notify your IT admin right away. As a result, the threat can be contained fast.

Having secure data backups in place

Backups are essential for any business. After all, they let you regain access to data if an incident hits. So do not rely on assets stored in a single location. Otherwise, you may lose everything and fail to recover.

Cloud solutions are a great backup option. For example, they sync your data automatically and keep it available from any location. In short, both large and small firms face data breaches and ransomware. So every business should invest in secure backups.

Always vetting your business partners

Successful outsourcing partnerships rest on trust, communication, and transparency. So you should also see into your partners’ security practices. There are many outsourcing firms like Connext that provide robust cybersecurity solutions. Trusted providers like them can help you further manage digital security for your remote workers. For deeper context, review how data security in outsourcing works before you sign.

Vendor Email Compromise (VEC), a newer twist on Business Email Compromise (BEC), is a real and growing threat. In these scams, attackers prey on a vendor’s employees. Their goal is to gather intelligence on the business partners that vendor works with.

In short, their aim is to impersonate the vendor. Then they request fake money transfers or try to breach the customer’s IT systems.

According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, 59% of companies were hit by a cyberattack through third parties. However, by reviewing vendors’ security and privacy policies, the chance of a breach drops from 66% to 46%. So vetting pays off.

In practice, ask vendors for cybersecurity self-assessments and security audits. As a result, you learn whether their business is truly secure. A shared cybersecurity framework makes these checks easier to compare.

Ensuring secure connections

Another remote work issue is data transmission on every endpoint. Many teams lean on a corporate VPN. However, when demand spikes, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, VPN traffic can explode and exceed company capacity.

So it is best to invest in a high-grade VPN like PureVPN that covers all the bases for cybersecurity when working with global teams. A purpose-built VPN for global teams handles distributed access far better than a basic setup.

Think back to how software used to work. Before cloud apps became the norm, software ran only in the physical office. So staff could reach it only on the company network.

Because of this, remote employees had two options. They could come to the office and connect to the corporate network, or they could use the company’s VPN. As more users logged in from home, the bandwidth and number of VPN connections soared.

As Heimdal Security experts have pointed out, that huge data increase means VPNs can no longer guarantee security. This can happen because of detectable “signatures” that attackers use to steal data in transit.

VPNs do have real privacy benefits. However, when overloaded, they can grow unstable. In some cases, that leads to data interception and other network attacks. So our studies show that relying on DNS over VPN can be far more effective for data security and privacy.

DNS filtering solutions target this issue directly. For example, they look at the internet’s infrastructure so no malicious “packages” slip past. In turn, they stop connections to the command and control servers used to spread malware.

As a result, these tools protect your organization from ransomware, data leaks, and phishing. In short, they stop attacks before they reach your endpoints. Still, DNS over VPN is just one measure that helps keep your data secure and private for remote teams.

Conclusion

Remote work clearly carries many security risks. So you should know them and address them actively. In the end, a mix of human vigilance and the right remote work tools keeps your business safe. Good remote team management ties these habits together day to day.

Fortunately, outsourcing companies like Connext can help combat these risks by implementing appropriate safety measures to protect your company’s data.

Frequently asked questions about cybersecurity for remote workers

What is the biggest cybersecurity risk for remote workers?

Human error is the biggest risk. For example, staff may click phishing links or reuse weak passwords. So regular training and two-factor authentication help the most.

How often should remote staff get security training?

Train staff at onboarding, then refresh it often. In addition, send quick reminders when new threats appear. As a result, good habits stay top of mind.

Is a VPN enough to secure remote work?

A VPN helps, but it is not enough alone. When overloaded, it can grow unstable. So pair it with DNS filtering, backups, and strong access controls.

How do I check if an outsourcing partner is secure?

Ask for security self-assessments and audits. In addition, review their privacy policies and compliance records. In short, confirm their safeguards match your needs before you sign.