5 cybersecurity tips for companies working remotely in 2020
Hundreds of thousands of workers have been working remotely in Devon and across the UK since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. These workers, equipped with laptops and business software, have been diligently performing their responsibilities from home for months, and many of them began this process completely unprepared for the work-from-home lifestyle.
More importantly, a high proportion of workers simply don’t know how to operate with smart cybersecurity in 2020, a year when computer viruses and hacks are on the rise alongside the ravages of the virus. This short guide will provide you with the tips you need to make your firm cyber-secure in 2020.
Staff Training
Your cybersecurity management begins and ends with your staff. It’s these members of your team that have access to company and customer data on your systems, and who might provide the weak link that enables a breach into your business’ system. It’s also your employees who are most likely to accidentally click on a phishing email or to plug in a USB stick with a Trojan Horse installed on it.
All told, there are several risks associated with asking your employees to work remotely, and all of them boil down to the preparedness and knowledge that they have been given regarding cybersecurity. As such, to protect your systems from cyberthreats, it’s imperative that your staff are provided with some basic training in personal cybersecurity as it can help keep your business safe from hacks and data breaches.
Updated Software
Many of the world’s firms currently rely on some form of antivirus software to protect their business. These software solutions have been the mainstay for personal and business computers for many years, but as threats evolve in the digital world, these software packages have had to evolve, too. Any firms that don’t invest in better, tighter cybersecurity will be more at risk from breaches to their digital systems in the future.
Updating your cybersecurity software means going back to the market to look for the solutions that are the most cost-effective, while offering the best deal on security and IT support. The best options tend to differ depending on the size of your firm and the kind of work that you do, but there are handy guides online to help you get to grips with the next generation of cybersecurity software available today.
Cloud Security
One of the biggest innovations of the past decade has been the cloud — a place for you and your staff to store documents and data and share it with colleagues while working from home. This silent revolution has largely enabled the slick homeworking systems across much of the UK. But cloud systems have their own vulnerabilities and these need to be protected as part of your overall cybersecurity strategy, too.
Of chief importance is the level of data sharing enabled when you save documents in the cloud. If all staff members can access all of your cloud-based data, then there will be hundreds of devices on which your sensitive data might be under threat. Guard this data by investing in cloud security, and by following cloud cybersecurity best practice.
Data Protection Officers
As of 2016, the EU runs a strict policy, termed GDPR, or the General Data Protection Regulations, for businesses to protect consumer data. That means any firm with customer data could be liable to large fines and damaging court cases if they are found to flout one of GDPR’s many rules.
One of the rules included in the GDPR ruling is that firms must have a data protection officer who manages the private customer data that your firm possesses. It’s this officer’s responsibility to see all of your data protected at all times and to conform your company to the rules applied by the EU in their GDPR regulations. For UK businesses, this data protection regulation is likely to continue in UK law post-Brexit.
Centralising Your Systems
Nothing is more dangerous to your cybersecurity than running your business on a number of different platforms at once. Using Google and Microsoft products is recommended here, as they cover a wide number of digital business functions through a centralised system of software.
The alternative is to engage with dozens of different companies, all of whom you have to trust with your data. It’s better to cut out the ephemera in your digital systems to maintain just the essentials and the big companies you can trust with storing your data online.
Use the five key tips outlined above to bolster your cybersecurity in 2020 and to make sure your company isn’t disrupted by hacks and breaches in the future.
