It’s more important now than ever before to ensure that your business is taking cyber-security seriously. Many businesses are being forced to move to a remote workforce setup. While this comes with lots of benefits, there are also cyber-security risks that come with having employees work from home. In general, however, business owners who keep employees in the office often have to deal with the same issues as those who rely entirely on remote workforce support.
But although it is vital that you work with providers of managed network security services, you don’t necessarily need to rely upon overly complex fixes for IT and security issues when your employees work remotely. In fact, many IT solutions consulting professionals utilize some fairly simple cyber-security strategies for their clients. Below are just a few of the straightforward and simple solutions for cyber-security problems. After all, according to the Online Trust Alliance, about 95% of all data breaches could have been prevented through the use of common-sense approaches to improving security. We should all be taking these approaches more seriously.
1. Use Encryption
Encryption is a simple enough solution for a strong IT force to utilize. Many business owners, however, don’t rely on it as often as they should simply because encryption sounds rather intimidating, and like it could make the user experience more difficult rather than simpler. However, encryption can be used on emails as well as virtually all devices and drives. Savvy business owners will insist on encryption being a part of their managed network security service in order to prevent data from being easily accessed by hackers.
2. Back Up Everything
Even if something does not seem important enough to back up, it should be backed up. If information is important or even could be important in the future, it should never be stored on one device or location. There need to be multiple copies stored. While this could seem counterintuitive at first (don’t more copies equal more of a risk of data theft?) in the long term it’s more important to have information available and copied in the case of a crash.
3. Look Out for Physical Theft
It’s important to note that though data is often stolen online or through the hacking of software systems, it can also be stolen through the theft of physical equipment. This is particularly concerning during the age of remote employees. As remote employees often use company equipment at home, they could potentially open the door for more theft. This is why it’s important that equipment like laptop computers are carefully stored in locked compartments when they are not being used. Some companies provide remote employees with locked briefcases or even small safes for these purposes. Employees should be heavily discouraged, with penalties involved, from traveling with laptops and other types of equipment that store sensitive information.
4. Utilize Firewalls
Firewall can not only prevent employees from accidentally causing data breaches; they can also discourage employees from using work laptops the way they would personal ones. When working with providers of managed network security services, having firewalls installed on your network should be an immediate priority. Fortunately, there are lots of different options for firewall software, which is why you should consult with your IT professionals for guidance in making a final choice.
5. Train Employees
This may sound almost too simple, but it’s in fact deceptively simple. Employees, especially remote employees, can expose their equipment and networks to a lot of hazards. Therefore, you should work with your providers of managed network security services in order to create an effective training program for your employees. Onboard new employees by preparing them for their responsibilities in ensuring cyber-security, and refresh older employees with new techniques and regulations.
There are a lot of potential opportunities for cyber-security threats to attack your business. But you don’t need to bend over backward to remedy them. Just make sure that you’re working with great IT support specialists, and take the issues seriously. You’ll be glad that you did.
