Today, more than ever before, business owners are taking advantage of this fast-growing trend among small and medium businesses that is drastically increasing productivity, cutting costs, and driving more profit to the bottom line. Is it a new management style or marketing trend? No, it’s telecommuting, which is simply allowing your staff to work from home. When you see the bottom-line impact it has on profits and productivity and talk to business owners who rave about how much money it’s saving them, you’ll start to see how working from home is more than a necessity today-it’s an opportunity.
Common Myths, Mistakes, and Misconceptions About Allowing Your Employees to Work From Home
One of the most common fears many business owners have about allowing their team to work from home is the loss of control they have over their employees. Most think that unless someone is standing over them, employees will be unproductive and work far fewer hours. But the proof says something entirely different. From 2005 to 2017, there was a 159% increase in remote work. Currently, more than 23 million people work from home at least one day a week. Not only does it save business owners in overhead, studies show that employees get MORE done when working outside of an office environment.
A Los Angeles Bank decided to test telecommuting to see if it would help their massive turnover rate of 33%. The experiment worked, and within a year the turnover rate plummeted to nearly zero. Not only were they able to pad their bottom line and flatten the turnover rate, but their productivity also jumped 18%, saving the bank more than $3 million each year. AT&T allowed employees from a New Jersey office of 600 people to work from home. Over a five-year period, that region saved more than $11 million annually. Half of those savings came from real estate savings while the other came from a measured increase in incremental work hours from employees who were now able to work without interruptions. Even small businesses report savings of $85,000 to $93,000 per year by lowering their turnover rates, reducing their operating costs (gas, utilities, office space, and furniture) and increased productivity after implementing work-from-home programs. (Source: International Teleworking Advocacy Group)
Cyber Security Risks for Telecommuters
While there’s clear evidence today of the many benefits of allowing your team to work from home, those benefits come at a heightened risk to your network and data. Remote work can present a unique challenge because work-from-home environments usually don’t have the same level of cyber security found within your office.
Here are six of the top cyber security risks you should be cautious of when implementing a work-from-home team:
1. Public WiFi. From Starbucks to libraries to doctors’ waiting rooms, public WiFi seems to be just about everywhere nowadays. While it’s convenient to just hop on a public WiFi, it poses significant security risks to your network. First, other people have access to that same network, and without a firewall between you and them, there’s potential for someone nearby to access the same data that you can. Second, any interested observers on your current network or the public networks can monitor your traffic since it’s not encrypted.
2. Personal Computers and Devices. When your staff is working from home, it may be more convenient for them to use their home PC or other devices to run reports, send e-mails or even access your network. You and your IT team have probably gone to great lengths to ensure your work computers have the latest updates installed, run antivirus scans, and block malicious sites. However, most business owners and IT staff rarely follow the same security procedures for personal computers and devices, such as ensuring the work device has the Windows firewall enabled to protect it from other home computers and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Essentially, by introducing a personal computer to a work network, even remotely, you’re putting the company network and your business at unnecessary risk. Even beyond the risk to your data is the potential liability and financial risk through violations of policy, practices, or both.
3. Risk of Theft. While you know there’s a threat of cybercriminals hacking your network and stealing your data, you probably rarely think about someone stealing the computers in your office. However, because laptops and tablets are portable and much easier to steal, there is a greater chance of theft. Advise your employees to never leave their work computers or devices in a vehicle or unattended in a restaurant. It only takes a few seconds for someone to break into your car or even the trunk and take a laptop. While on the road, it’s smarter to always keep your laptop on your person. Because a stolen laptop means a lot worse than simply replacing a computer, it can also be a productivity and records nightmare. The worst-case scenario? The theft is actually a hacker who is after the personal data and passwords left on the laptop!
4. Flash Drives. Your IT team goes to such great lengths to keep your network safe. And it can all be brought down by a cheap little thumb drive or flash drive. Most families have several of these portable drives in random desk drawers and kids’ rooms. If an employee picks up a random thumb drive, it’s like playing Russian roulette-will it contain malware or not? A classic hacking technique is to drop off several thumb drives at an office or public location. Most people will appreciate the free drive and take it home for future use. By doing so, they could possibly unleash a virus or malware onto the computer and possibly even your network! In a study presented at a hacker conference, a Google researcher dropped off 297 USB drives in hallways, parking lots, and outdoor areas on the University of Illinois’s Urbana-Champaign campus. Inside the drives was special software that would allow them to immediately “call home” when plugged in. Of the 297 USB drives, 98% were picked up and 45% were plugged in and called home! Bottom line: never use a flash drive if you don’t know what’s on it and who gave it to you.
5. Sending Sensitive Information Via E-mail. Your remote employees won’t think twice about sending e-mails either from their work computer or their personal laptop. However, when you’re sending sensitive data, such as financial information, passwords, or proprietary product information, there’s always a chance it could be intercepted by a third party. Encrypting the data attached to an e-mail prevents an unintended recipient from intercepting and viewing the data. Also, be sure your device is set to have all stored data encrypted in case of theft.
6. People Are Watching. You’ve already been warned about using public WiFi. There’s another risk if you’re in a public place doing work. It’s other people. If you’re in a coffee shop, you should always be aware of your sightlines. Anyone behind you can see everything you’re typing. Cybercriminals have strong observational skills to easily watch what others are doing and steal confidential information.
Four Steps to Take to Ensure Secure Work-From-Home Environments
Now that you better understand the cyber security risks of allowing your team to work from home, we want to give you the tools, technologies, and insights into creating a more productive remote business environment. Here are four considerations to getting you set up and running a productive and protected work-from-home business:
1. Use Two-Factor Authentication VPN. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It’s essentially a private, encrypted tunnel that goes directly to your IT network in your office. Ideally, you’ll want your VPN to support two-factor authentication. This means that it’s doubly secure because your employees will need to call in to access the network. Ideally, your employees would be accessing corporate resources through a VPN remote access rather than a cloud-based “virtual desktop” solution, such as GoToMyPC or Zoho. These products are not as secure, but they are still better than not using anything and potentially exposing your network to risk.
2. Use a Secure WiFi Access Point. Without a secure WiFi access point, you’re essentially leaving a back door open to hackers. That’s because WiFi signals are often broadcast far beyond your employees’ homes and out into the streets. Yes, drive-by hacking is popular among cybercriminals today. A few tips for using a secure WiFi access point: First, use stronger encryption and a more complex password. Second, hide your network name so your neighbors or people in your proximity cannot see your network. Third, use a firewall.
3. Improve Your Password Strategy. The strength of your passwords may be the first line of defense that shields against would-be hackers. Make a point to reevaluate your passwords and inform your team to create stronger passwords. While it’s convenient to save your passwords in a web browser, it also lessens your security. Because web browsers simply require their own password or PIN to access saved passwords, a skilled hacker can bypass this hurdle. Once they access your saved passwords, they can steal as much as they want-credit card information, customers’ private data, and more.
Another tip is to never use the same password for more than one account or website. Too many people utilize one password for all of their accounts. If that single password ever gets leaked, ALL of their accounts are compromised. Instead, by using different passwords, you only have to change the one password on the compromised website or software. To make it far easier to deal with multiple passwords, you should consider a password manager to keep all of your passwords in one place. These password managers feature robust security.
4. Provide Company-Approved Computers. You have practically zero control regarding what’s on your employees’ home computers and who is using them. That same computer they access your network with could be used to download music and apps, play video games, surf controversial sites, and receive potentially dangerous emails. While it may seem like an added expense to issue company-approved computers or laptops to all of your work-from-home employees, the investment could prevent a much more serious cyberattack that could cost your business far more. Many business owners today are providing their employees with laptops rather than PCs and monitors so they can easily take them home. Just make sure they protect their company laptop and never leave it in their car or unattended in a public place.
Whether your employees are currently working from home or you are considering the benefits of letting them work remotely, apply these tips to help protect your team, their computers, and your network and data.
Paul Tracey founded Innovative Technologies in 2012 to help small businesses expand their vision of the role of IT in their company. After working for companies where compliance and cybersecurity were afterthoughts, Paul committed himself not only to being a full-service managed security services provider, but also to helping small business owners establish a company culture that supported safe, secure, and efficient IT. A recognized cybersecurity expert, Paul is the author of the recently published book Delete the Hackers Playbook. In the decade that Innovative Technologies has been in business, never has any of his clients paid ransomware. He is also the co-author of Cyber Storm, forthcoming April, 2022.
Find Paul Tracey on the web at https://www.upstatetechsupport.com.
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