Developing a plan for remote work security? Here are 6 key considerations

With so many organizations switching to a work-from-home model, many are finding security to be increasingly more difficult to administer and maintain. There is an influx of vulnerable points distributed across more locations than ever before, as remote workers strive to maintain their productivity. The result? Security teams everywhere are being stretched.

plan remote work security

The Third Global Threat Report from VMware Carbon Black also found little confidence among respondents that the rollout to remote working had been done securely. The study took a deep dive into the effects COVID-19 had on the security of remote working, with 91% of executives stating that working from home has led to a rise in attacks.

Are you making sure your security professionals are up to the task of remote working while security threats are on the rise?

1. Maintain consistency

One way to help mitigate risk is to have your developers and security professionals train at a consistent level so they are all on the same page. Knowing that there is some sort of security architecture at play in your organization and understanding the logistics of how to stress test aspects of that structure will make it easier to prepare for and block attacks.

2. Don’t overlook the details

Training needs to address all aspects of your structure, specifically: information security, data security, cybersecurity, computer security, physical security, IoT security, cloud security, and individual security. Each area of an architecture needs to be tested and hardened regularly for your organization to truly be shielded from security breaches. Be specific about your program: train your staff on how to defend your information around your HR records (SSNs, PII, etc.) and data that could be exposed (shopping cart, customer card numbers), as well as in cyber defense to provide tools against nefarious actors, breaches and threats.

3. Think about the individual

Staff must be trained to know how to lock down computers, so individual machines and network servers are safe. This training should also encompass how to ensure physical security, to protect your storage or physical assets. This comes into play more as the IoT plays a larger role in connecting our devices and BYOD policies allow for more connections to be made between personal and corporate assets. Individual security: each employee is entitled to be secure in their work for a company, and that includes privacy concerns and compliance issues.

4. Keep your head in the cloud

Today, most companies have some sort of cloud presence and security professionals will need to be trained to constantly check the interfaces to cloud and any hybrid on-prem and off-prem instances you have.

5. Invest in learning

With constantly changing layers of architecture and amplified room for breaches as a result of remote working, it’s hard to imagine how security professionals stay ahead of all the changes. One thing that keeps teams on top of their game is professional online learning.

During the COVID-19 shelter-in-place mandate, leading eLearning companies have witnessed a massive increase in hours of security content consumed. For some, security is one of the fastest-growing topic areas which suggests that this year, security is more important. This is likely because of the number of workers who have gone remote and challenges that brings to an organization, particularly in the security department.

6. Consider role-based training

While it’s important to equip teams with skills that apply across function, there is a case to be made for investing in experts. Cybersecurity is not a field where there is a linear path of growth. There are different journeys individuals can take to venture into paths to transition from a vulnerability analyst to a security architect. By looking at individuals within the organization to seek ways to upskill and take on new roles and responsibilities, you have the unique benefit of being able to help them curate roles that fit the needs of the organizations.

It’s not often that a business has a dedicated Remote Team Security Lead, because there was rarely a need for one. Considering the quick transition to remote work and possibility that this is the new normal, organizations can benefit by investing in specific training curated to meet the security needs of remote teams. If this role is cultivated within the organization, there is the added benefit of knowing that the lessons being taught provide direct relevancy to specific needs and increase the attractiveness of investing time and effort into skills training.

Training can be the key to preparing security professionals for the unexpected. But there is no one-size-fits-all lesson that can be delivered or an evergreen degree that can keep up with an industry that changes every day. Training needs to be always on the agenda and it needs to be developed in a way that offers different modalities of learning.

Regardless of how the individual best learns, criterion-based assessments can measure knowledge/skills and act as a guide to true, lasting learning. Developing a culture committed to agility and learning is the key to embracing change.

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