As beneficial as remote working is, it comes with a few problems of its own. One, and a major one at that, is security. According to new figures from CybSafe, every third business has suffered a data breach thanks to its remote workforce, all in the past 12 months.
The main reason for this is twofold – on one side, we have the employees that aren’t as proficient when it comes to cybersecurity as they should be. A quarter doesn’t have any kind of antivirus or cybersecurity software installed, and 30 per cent don’t restrict access to files in any way.
On the other side, we have the decision-makers and the managerial, which is ‘overconfident when it comes to telecommuting’, the report states. Three quarters believe every individual employee understands how to work safely and remotely. In reality, 50 per cent have had any training in this, in the past year.
“While remote working has the potential to be hugely beneficial to businesses, the threat of related data breaches is being seriously underestimated,” commented Oz Alashe, CEO and founder of CybSafe.
“Most business leaders assume that their people know how to work safely when working remotely – but the number of data breaches caused by staff working remotely and the lack of training indicates that this isn’t the case. Given that remote working is likely to increase in popularity year on year, this is a problem that’s only going to get worse if businesses refuse to take action.”
Source: IT Portal