Top 3 Ways To Secure Your IT Network With A Remote Workforce

The global pandemic caused a seismic shift in business workforce management. Since then, the trend toward remote and hybrid business models continues to rise.

Today’s workers benefit from the flexibility of being able to connect to their company’s network from anywhere using a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. But the perks of remote work carry significant increased risk.

With so many users and devices spread across your network both on-premises and virtually, cybercriminals are finding new ways to penetrate or circumvent security measures.

In this article, we will lay out the top 3 ways in which you can boost your network security to effectively block or mitigate potential cybersecurity incidents, keeping your critical data and assets safe.

Take Action: Top 3 Steps To Take Now To Prevent Future Problems

1. Develop an ISM Plan

You can’t protect what you don’t know about. So, the first step in developing a robust security plan is to conduct a thorough internal assessment to identify and categorize your physical and virtual assets.

You can then use this information to develop a comprehensive information security management (ISM) plan. Start by identifying and categorizing your assets. This will help you to determine your risks and security gaps in your system.

Once you have gathered this information, you can create your strategic IT security management plan. This plan should spell out the methods, procedures, software and equipment you will need to keep your business running smoothly while satisfying industry compliance requirements.

By evaluating your physical and virtual landscape, your ISM plan serves as an essential blueprint for safeguarding your entire IT environment, regardless of when, where, or how your employees access it.

2. Implement Stringent Security Measures

Once you have a thorough understanding of your entire IT landscape, it’s time to put in place the security controls that will help prevent a cybersecurity incident that could cause catastrophic harm to your business.

Related Article: Does Cybersecurity Risk Keep You Up At Night?

Here are some critical industry-standard IT cybersecurity tools that can help fortify your network to help safeguard your company, vendor, and customer data, especially if you employ a hybrid or remote workforce: 

• Establish a secured VPN tunnel from the workstations back to your company headquarters or the secured cloud service that you are using.

• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) to require multiple methods of user verification to gain access to an application, device, or data. MFA can be used with data encryption to ensure your data stays safe.
  
  
• Launch an endpoint protection solution such as Software as a Service (SaaS) to allow users to access applications remotely through the internet instead of locally on machines. 
  
  
• Your endpoint protection platform can automate the 24/7 monitoring of your devices wherever they are being used. When installed on a network gateway or server, it can swiftly identify and isolate any potential issues.
  
  
• Update your antivirus, anti-malware, and anti-spam software to combat the thousands of new viruses and latent threats that pop up every day. Make sure your other applications are not blocking automatic updates of these essential protection tools.
  
  
• Create robust, next-generation firewalls to provide a defensive shield against potential malicious intrusions.
  
  
• Ensure proper cloud storage management to effectively secure your information in the cloud.
  
  
• Develop a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system to serve as a central hub to collect and analyze the vast amounts of data flowing across your network. 
  
  A SIEM security solution can spot, evaluate, and contain security threats. It uses a dashboard to send out alerts to your IT team when suspicious activity is detected.
  
  
• Implement geofencing to set a virtual boundary and keep track of when and where your employees are working.
  
  
• Use edge security to allow remote users to access data and apps in your network in real-time. Rather than being connected to a centralized data center or cloud, edge security protects your network at its edge or periphery, closest to the device the employee is using.

3. Require Employee Security Awareness Training

The No. 1 way to safeguard your critical data and important assets is to provide an employee security awareness training program in coordination with your HR department. 

Related Article: Why Employee Security Awareness Training Helps Prevent Cyber Incidents

There are many variables that can put your network at risk. Some of the questions to consider include: are your employees browsing the web logged into your network, sharing company devices with family members, downloading personal data onto company devices, using personal devices for work, or traveling out of the country?

Are they sharing passwords? Are they able to recognize and avoid phishing attempts and other social engineering scams? Do they know the steps to follow and whom to contact at your company in the event of a breach? 

Given the global digital transformation across industries, cyber attacks like ransomware and phishing are at an all-time high. Malicious actors are using advanced techniques, including AI, to exploit human and technology vulnerabilities.

Of course, no industry is immune from threats. Providing cybersecurity education to your staff is the first line of defense against internal or external threats.

What’s The Bottom Line? 

After reading this article, you now understand why it’s even more important to have a comprehensive IT management plan with a hybrid or remote workforce to keep your IT environment safe and achieve industry security compliance.

When it comes to cybersecurity, being proactive means you hold the reins in managing your entire network, regardless of whether your employees are in the office or working remotely.

Implementing the protocols and systems laid out in this article will help ensure that you strengthen your defenses to minimize risk of a cyber incident, ensure industry security compliance, and respond promptly to potential cyber threats.

Your IT environment is the lifeline of your organization, especially in today’s hybrid and remote business culture.

If you don’t currently have the internal IT staff to implement a comprehensive security program, you may consider hiring a Managed Services Provider (MSP).

At Kelser, we provide a full complement of managed IT solutions. While we know that managed IT is not the right solution for every business, it is one way to keep your IT infrastructure available, efficient, and secure.

If you decide to pursue managed IT support, we encourage you to explore several providers, so that you can find the right fit for your business.

Is your organization ready to combat the latest cybersecurity threats? Not sure? Click the button below for your free cybersecurity checklist to learn where you have gaps and build in extra data protection today.