Does your company have working from home protocols in place? Without a work from home policy that addresses IT security protocols, you run the risk of hackers accessing your data or compromising your network. Create an IT risk assessment policy and procedures to let remote employees know what is expected from them.
Secure Your Data With Working From Home Protocols
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to reshape the business landscape and how employees get their work done. If your organization has a work from home policy, IT security protocols are essential.
Businesses need to understand the increased risk of network breaches when their team members work remotely. When remote employees access your sensitive data and network outside the typical work environment, the risk of security breaches grows.
To ensure information security, your company should put IT security protocols in place.
Elements of Effective IT Risk Assessment Policies and Procedures
A work from home policy introduces several new communication channels that can access your network. There are big picture IT security protocols that need to be in place. However, everyone, from employees to managers, needs to be educated about security risks.
IT risk assessment policies and procedures clearly explain what is expected of employees to build the most secure network possible.
User Education
No matter what your company’s work arrangements are, it would be best to educate your employees about proper security measures. Work with team members to recognize phishing scams and malware or ransomware attacks.
Provide remote workers with basic security knowledge to implement when out of office. Along with phishing scams, your staff should be informed about:
- Avoiding public Wi-Fi
- Securing their home Wi-Fi network
- Securing devices used for work purposes
- Checking the validity of third-party apps
- Who to contact if they detect security issues
- Creating strong passwords
- Encrypting sensitive information
- Keeping work and personal devices separate
Use Cloud Services
Making sure company data remains confidential is vital. One of the best ways to ensure your information stays secure is using cloud services. Keeping sensitive data in the cloud adds layers of security that locally stored data does not have. Keeping your employees connected through cloud-based apps such as Microsoft 365 also improves safety.
Data Backup
No matter what work arrangements you have with your employees, they need to back up your data securely. Employees should always be encouraged to back up their data to secure online servers. Avoid allowing external drives whenever possible because they can be lost or stolen.
Provide Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
VPNs help secure data transmitted between your core systems and remote work areas. Your network security is enhanced because VPNs hide users’ IP addresses, encrypt data being sent, and keep the user’s location anonymous. Many large enterprises already employ VPN services, so small to medium businesses need to focus on implementing VPNs for all work-related activity.
Software Updates
Software updates often include enhanced security measures. Making sure your employees are running the most recent version of their software helps protect against data breaches. Organizations should implement this policy with remote and face to face employees.
Enhanced IT Security Protocols
To protect your network, you have to take steps that go beyond your employees. Managed network security services take proactive steps to ensure your network is secure.
Vulnerability Assessments
Vulnerability testing is a process that targets the access points of your network, searching for vulnerabilities. Providers will take immediate actions to tighten security for any areas found to be vulnerable.
Penetration Testing
Penetration testing is a more proactive approach, as it simulates attacks on your system to see how they hold up to real-world intrusion. These tests give information about areas that need to be enhanced and offer a view of how a network will react to an attack.
Threat Remediation
Threat remediation is designed to keep up with new and increasing risks. Protecting your network is a never-ending process that requires modern solutions and looking to the future to know what lies ahead.
Enhance Your Work From Home Policies With The Millennium Group
The Millennium Group has an experienced team of technology consultants who can assess your business goals and how technology enhances your working from home protocols. We build out custom-tailored IT infrastructure for our clients based on their specific needs. Give us a call today to discuss how we can ramp up productivity and security in today’s remote work environment.
Our Partners
