Remote workers are here to stay, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic — that is certainly how it seems, right? We held out hope that the country would get the pandemic under control and that life would go back to business as usual. So far, in the middle of November, we are eight months in and no end in sight.
Many law firms, real estate and property management groups have realized, “this work from home model isn’t that bad.” Right? We know that many businesses were taken by surprise how rapidly they had to course correct, send workers home AND deal with potential data breaches because the data was no longer within the company firewalls.
Network managers scrambled to divvy up laptops and desktops, install software and VPNs (virtual private networks) and teach staff how to securely log in and access their data. Protect data now — is our philosophy and we know that many companies worried their data was not protected and that is certainly a concern.
Surefire Ways To Keep Remote Workers Connected
Small to medium-sized businesses were hardest hit with having to course-correct and keep their businesses operating in the midst of a pandemic. Larger organizations were better able to handle the remote worker transition because of their size and likely because they had a Business Continuity and Data Recovery (BCDR) plan in place.
When these businesses had to transition to a remote workforce, the CEOs and COOs were more concerned with keeping the business running and clients served than they were with the security issues they could have been facing.
We have put together a list of 5 ways companies can keep remote workers connected AND protect company data.
- Reassess the company risk. You’ve been dealing with remote workers for close to eight months now — in many cases. What risks have you uncovered? What risks has your CIO predicted or what risks has the CIO cautioned you to be prepared for?
- Install and/or upgrade the company firewalls. Make sure all software upgrades are being done by the remote workers. The IT staff needs to be charged with this task.
- Review cybersecurity protocols with EVERYONE. This should be ongoing. You also need to let staff know there are consequences to being lax with company security protocols. An easy-to-hack password opens the doors to hackers and to a company losing its most valuable asset — its data.
- Require staff to use password managers AND to make passwords that are virtually impossible to hack. Offer training on property password protocols and what is expected of each staff and its password.
- Limit access to files. If a staff member doesn’t need access to a file or a particular location in the company cloud storage. This also means, if a staff member leaves the company, his or her access needs to be immediately revoked. An employee who is being let go, needs to have his or her access revoked before the parting of the ways conversation is begun.
Call in a cybersecurity and data protection professional. Even if you have an on-staff IT department, an outside Cybersecurity professional can help them perform security checks, look for potential security breaches they may not have considered. An audit or risk assessment is one of the best ways to protect your business data.
Schedule a FREE Preliminary Risk Assessment by clicking here.
WareGeeks Solutions is a Roselle, New Jersey-based complete IT consultant and solutions provider. We specialist in Data Protection, specifically Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (#BCDR). We work with law firms, real estate and property management professionals and in the healthcare industry. If you have IT or security questions contact Seth at WareGeeks Solutions. For information or a consultation, call (877) 653-7146, or email us at info@waregeeks.com. www.waregeeks.com