Remote software development is already here, opening a lot of scopes to companies for cost control and quality assurance at the same time. In addition, since the coronavirus pandemic in the last two years forced many companies to enforce work-from-home protocol, the remote workforce now constitutes a considerable portion of the regular staff.
Security concerns and challenges are also constantly growing because of the increasing presence of a remote workforce in companies. Particularly in technology companies and development services that hire remote software developers, the security concerns happen to be maximum. This is why cybersecurity training has become crucial for companies to safeguard themselves from security attacks.
It is essential to understand the roles of cybersecurity training for remote work processes and their impact. Here, we will explain the key ways cybersecurity training helps remote work.
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Cybersecurity Measures for Remote Work: why are they important?
It is a fact that the remote has been continuously on the rise for the past several years, and the pandemic only accelerated this growth, making several millions of people work in the capacity of remote workers. Even after the pandemic restrictions are eased, many companies continue to follow this remote or work-from-home protocol for their employees.
After embracing a remote workforce, companies around the globe experienced more frequent cybersecurity attacks than ever before, and providing cybersecurity training to employees has become tremendously important. Let’s explain the critical reasons for giving cybersecurity training to remote employees.
Increasing and Sophisticated Cyberattacks
There has been a dynamic and constant rise in the volume and sophistication of cyberattacks. Cyberattackers can now easily take advantage of less secure RDP endpoints to create vulnerabilities in the VPN structure. There are also numerous tactics like phishing emails with COVID-19-related messages. Cyber-attacks distract the employees and convince them to download attachments with malicious content.
The unfortunate news is that the enhanced risks and vulnerabilities corresponding to cyber-attacks will not change soon. Just because an increasing number of employees are going to work remotely either as part of the trending outsourcing work model or because of the pandemic restrictions, cybersecurity risks emanating out of personal devices will be there all the time. Therefore, keeping remote employees versed with the latest cybersecurity measures and risks is essential.
Low-Security Local Networks and Devices
Most hackers understand that local and home networks are less secure than large corporate networks and infrastructure. They often reap advantages from this low-security network through the employees working from home. For instance, hackers and attackers can easily hijack devices running on home or local networks. But they cannot easily do the same with enterprise-grade networks.
Home computers and local network routers are easy targets for cyber-attacks and other security vulnerabilities for many cybersecurity specialists. Since hackers continue to be more skilled, end-to-end network security needs to get even more robust. This is why remote employees need to be versed with measures to secure their network.
Smartphones are Low-Hanging Fruits for Attackers
Smartphones and other mobile devices like tablets have become low-hanging fruits for attackers, and they often play the roles of weak links in any security chain. So, the employees need to know the security measures and precautions when using their handheld devices for office work.
As many employees now work from home, cloud-based mobile apps have become more common for communication, collaboration and productivity. Unfortunately, this is where the cybercriminals can take advantage of these security loopholes to install specific malicious programs on the devices. This is why remote employees need thorough training on mobile security risks and the measures and precautions to prevent them.
Updating and upgrading Security Frequently
Regardless of the niche or size, having robust security policies and security controls is of extreme importance. Companies often give priority to upgrading and updating their security measures and strategies to keep in sync with the evolving security challenges. This is where security training proves important to help employees keep the systems updated and upgraded.
Coming to a large-scale picture, making employees trained on security issues and required updates also helps prevent cybersecurity loopholes as they can keep the system updated as per policy on their own.
Reducing Human-Committed Security Fault Lines
Most cybersecurity experts agree that most security breaches and issues emerge due to human errors or man-made faults. Since firewalls are not just enough to prevent employees from getting trapped by phishing emails, human errors need to be checked for optimum cybersecurity.
Cybercriminals often have a free run with phishing email scams opened by employees without knowledge of security vulnerabilities and issues. There are always chances that the remote workers are not fully knowledgeable about how cyberattacks occur. This is where rigorous cybersecurity training can help.
Bring Down Anxiety and Work Stress
Cybersecurity attacks and their impact on any organization and workforce can be disastrous. The security attacks can also be detrimental to the trust factor in working with the remote team. As a result, this can cause tension in a workforce, further resulting in stress and anxiety.
This is where a cybersecurity training program for remote employees can play a preventive role in taking precautions before such incidents take place. Such training can also give employees confidence about the security of the network and platforms they use for their work.
Conclusion
Cyber-attacks are increasingly getting sophisticated, and the remote workforce has become the order of most organizational functioning; cybersecurity training is of grave importance. A company can also reap the advantages of outsourcing and remote workforce to the fullest extent with such training programs.
