Many companies aren’t providing their remote workers with any cybersecurity awareness training, new research claims, even though those workers have access to sensitive company data.
A report by Hornetsecurity surveying nearly 1,000 IT professionals working for companies of all sizes worldwide found that a third (33%) do not provide any type of cybersecurity awareness training to their remote employees.
At the same time, three-quarters (74%) of these remote workers have access to critical data, which can put employers at high risk of costly and brand-damaging cyber incidents.
Basic rescue training
The report also indicates that IT teams are aware of the situation they are in, with nearly half (43%) of IT professionals (43%) rating their confidence in remote security measures as “moderate” at best. Some (16%) believed that “disorderly file sharing” was a common cause of cyber accidents.
The stakes can only grow, as the report found that nearly half (44%) of companies plan to increase the percentage of their employees working remotely in the future.
To address the problem, Hornetscurti says companies need to do the obvious — increase education and training, particularly basic training, which can “significantly” improve an organization’s cybersecurity posture.
Furthermore, companies must have “robust systems” in place to protect their employees. compromised endpoints (Opens in a new tab) It added that (28%) and compromised credentials (28%) were the main sources of cybersecurity incidents. Furthermore, 15% said employees use their own devices for work, albeit with “some endpoint setup”.
“Traditional approaches to controlling and securing corporate data are not effective when employees are working in remote locations and greater responsibility lies with the individual. Companies must recognize the unique risks associated with remote work and activate relevant security management systems,” said Daniel Hoffman, CEO of Hornetsecurity. As well as enabling employees to deal with a certain level of risk.”
“Increasing cybersecurity measures for remote working is especially important in the current climate, as cybercriminals are becoming smarter and using remote working to their advantage. We have seen an increase in smartphone attacks as hackers realize that both personal and professional data can be accessed where People can, and often do, get work done on personal devices.”