BTS Technologies Inc. warns that working remotely opens companies up to cybercriminals, but home office cybersecurity is available to support remote workers during the pandemic and beyond.
According to a BitSight report, 45 percent of companies whose employees are working remotely had malware on their corporate-associated home networks. The study included more than 41,000 organizations. For small to mid-size businesses, typically in the past cybersecurity of the home office environment could be ignored, but that is no longer possible given the numbers of employees working remotely and relying on their devices to perform their daily tasks.
“To sum it all up, vulnerability at the home-office is now corporate vulnerability,” said Roger Wentowski, president of BTS. BTS Technologies, based in Birmingham, provides telecommunication systems and services to its customers.
Working from home is fast becoming the “new normal.” According to Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics, “Our best estimate is that 25-30 percent of the workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.” That number is up from 3.6 percent of employees working from home half-time or more.
Two of the biggest challenges facing business owners are properly managing employees and deciding which technologies to use.
For addressing which technology to use, BTS suggests business owners equip their employees with a combination of Windows virtual desktops, SD-WAN, firewall and a printer/scanner. Virtual desktops provide employees with access to apps, software and technology that they utilize on their work computer. SD-WAN establishes a secure and efficient means of connectivity for employees and a monitoring solution ensures the ongoing security of any devices or networks from cyberattacks. Lastly, the printer/scanner solutions are necessities for some employees.
